Workaround to get some servers to work with the SEO URL feature

[Jamie]

The SEO URLs feature requires support for the PATH_INFO variable, or at least support for passing data via the URL prior to a query string:
http://www.example.com/page.php/data...ing/?page=blah

On some servers (GoDaddy in particular) URLs of this format will result in the following error:

No input file specified

In some cases you can get this to work as follows:

1. Look for a file named "php.ini" in the root of the site.

2. If found, rename it to php5.ini. If not found, create a blank file named php5.ini in the same location

3. In that file, add this as the last line:

cgi.fix_pathinfo = 1

4. Save the file

5. In your .htaccess file, add this as the first line:

Options -MultiViews

6. Save the file

7. Wait about 5 or 10 minutes for the changes to take affect. If it is still not working, wait even longer and reload the page again.

[partsmike]

So I tried this fix and unfortunately it didn't work for me.

Not the end of the world but I decided to ask GoDaddy if they had a work around and here is what they said...

"Our Linux hosting accounts run in CGI mode. When PHP 5 runs in this mode, the server variable element PATH_INFO behaves differently than under PHP 4. PHP 5 scripts can use the element SCRIPT_NAME in place of PATH_INFO to ensure the expected value is returned"

Any thoughts??

Ray

[Jamie]

Hi Ray,

First, are you running the latest version of Squirrelcart? If not, I'd recommend upgrading first. Then, remove anything you've added that is mentioned in this thread, and start from scratch trying to add support for this.

If it doesn't work, then I would recommend trying the steps above again. Also, wait quite awhile after making those changes before deciding that they are not working.

When I tried this for another customer, I had to wait at least 10 minutes (maybe more) before the changes had any effect. If you wait 10 minutes and it doesn't work, go get a beer or two, and try it again afterwards. I have no idea why there is a lag in those changes taking effect, so while 5-10 mins might be needed, that wait period could actually be longer.

[partsmike]

Thanks for the response. We are on version 2.5.2. (Ya, I know we are behind) but are getting ready for an upgrade. I'll try again at that time and let you know what happens. The delay you speak of is normal for GoDaddy on changes for a lot of things. It seems to vary from 2 minutes to 30 minutes. Go figure.

Ray

[Jamie]

I just made some minor edits to the first post in this thread that might help get this working for people that couldn't in the past.

Once you have it working and not generating the "No input file specified" error, you may have trouble enabling the "No filename" setting to get rid of the storefront page from URLs. I've found that if you put a "?" at the end of the page name in your .htaccess file, it seems to work - use at your own risk.

So, the normal code for your .htaccess file to use when checking the "No filename" field on the store settings page is this:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^(products|categories|news|reviews|testimonials)/?(.*)$ index.php/$1/$2 [L]

If you put that code in place and enabled "No filename" you will again be getting the "No input file specified" error on your product and category pages. If however you append a ? to the storefront page name, it seems to resolve that.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^(products|categories|news|reviews|testimonials)/?(.*)$ index.php?/$1/$2 [L]

I'm not very comfortable with this change because should any of the URLs already contain a query string, this is going to change that to have 2 query strings (or at least two "?" symbols).

[Jamie]

Update:
GoDaddy seems to work fine if you format the .htaccess file code as follows:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^(categories|products|news|reviews|testimonials|content)/?(.*)$ index.php/$1/$2 [L,QSA]

[sacrutcher]

This fix worked perfectly, thank you.