savvy

I've got a problem that I've been having trouble getting my head around all morning!

I'm updating a site for a friend which uses absolute urls, normally when I test a site I've been working on I'll upload it to my server so I can check it without interfering with the normal operation of the actual site - obviously the absolute urls make that difficult in this case.

My plan was to configure a .htaccess file to redirect url requests for friendsite.co.uk to test.mysite.com/friendsite/

but I'm not sure the best way to execute this?

Can I place the htaccess file in mysite.com directing all requests for friendsite.co.uk to test.mysite.com/friendsite/

or do I need to place the htaccess file in friendsite.co.uk directing all requests from referer test.mysite.com to test.mysite.com/friendsite/

Any pointers in the right direction would be appreciated as at the moment I feel as if I'm be "redirected" - round in circles!

cheers

Terra

Redirects always puzzle me but this guide has been my saviour: Best .htaccess Tutorials with Sample .htaccess files

However - I think in your case that's not easy. If you click a link with an absolute URL you'd go to the live site. BUT - you don't want to redirect all traffic from the live site to the dev copy (as it would affect everybody)

Only option may be to apply redirects specifically to your IP address? There are examples in the guide how to filter based on IP addresses. You'd need a fixed IP address & then ensure that only traffic coming from your IP is redirected.

There are examples you can use - they are meant for when a webmaster wants to put a site under maintenance, but they give you the basics: htaccess Tutorial for Apache Webmasters

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Underground, Overground, Wombling Free!

percepts

Getting rid of the absolute urls would make life a lot simpler.

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An old dog learning new tricks

savvy

Thanks for the advice and the links Terra, unfortunately I can't go with the IP based solution as I need to give my friend access for checking purposes and I don't know what his IP address is and whether it is static.

Thanks percepts, as much as I don't relish the idea of going through the whole site and changing it to relative urls - I've agreed that I'll update the site on a regular basis for him so in the long run it might be the best option.

Thanks again both!