Puzzling, it is at times, that my htaccess does not always behave as intended. As a computer scientist I expect that my programs and file input should output consistent, stable and reliable results immediately. This is not the case with my htaccess file, hosted on Site5, my internet service provider.
Delays in htaccess Implementation
When I do certain changes to my htaccess, there may be delays of a day or two. This is very odd to me, because supposedly the htaccess is checked for every server request. Maybe there are some caching that I do not know about. Nevertheless it seems like the htaccess has a unique personality. I know that I should not anthropomorphize a computer, much less a security file such as htaccess on an Apache server, but it is difficult to not.
Apache, the server and not the Indian tribe, is a fickle mistress. She is more than a little unpredictable, or at least it feels this way on Site5. While I realize that Apache is a web server, a computer who should be very logical, often times I notice very odd behaviour. Maybe it is the server setup, caching, or even traffic volume, I do not know. I do know that if you have some error in your htaccess file, the Apache server will then display a combination of ip addresses and host names. Once you fix the error, which no one can point out and there is no error message to go by, you will be back to only ip addresses.
I was researching all day on the web, hard at work looking at some new-to-me web technology and where it might lead the world. It’s all part of the fantastic world of web 2.0. There’s a 15% off sale for web hosting at Site5 that ends today. Dave says Site5 is good, and from what I’ve read they seem great. I sign up and in the middle of the transaction I wasn’t clear on an issue and clicked to the previous screen, when Summer popped up on my screen and cheerfully upped my discount to 20% off. Whoa, was I surprised, in the middle of my kitchen. Here she is.
