SID-02406: 'edit' and 'login' don't function after URL Shortening

Status:	Answered	TWiki version:	6.0.1	Perl version:	5.22
Category:	CategoryInstallation	Server OS:	Ubuntu 16.04	Last update:	6 years ago

New question on a previous problem.

I'm attempting to follow the guide at https://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/TWiki.ShorterUrlCookbook to shorten the URLs our existing 6.0 TWiki installation uses.

Here's as much relevant config as I can find.

In Apache's twiki.conf:

ScriptAlias  /bin                  "/var/www/twiki/bin"
Alias          /pub                 "/var/www/twiki/pub"
Alias          /pub/Sandbox   "/var/www/twiki/pub/Sandbox"
ScriptAlias  /pub                 "/var/www/twiki/bin/viewfile"
Alias          /                      "/var/www/twiki/bin/view/"

In twiki/lib/LocalSite.cfg:

$TWiki::cfg{ScriptUrlPath} = '';
$TWiki::cfg{ScriptUrlPaths}{view} = '';

Under this configuration, the Main Web front page loads for http://mywiki.org, and most links are navigable as normal, such as http://mywiki.org/Project1, http://mywiki.org/Project1, http://mywiki.org/Main/WebHome, http://mywiki.org/bin/configure, etc.

When I try to login or to edit a page under the Project1 Web, however, the browser attempts to load http://mywiki.org/login/Project1/ or http://mywiki.org/edit/Project1/, respectively, which produces an error page with the message

The "login/Project1" web does not exist

(or "edit/Project1", you get the idea). Any idea what the problem is here and what I need to change? The ShorterURL Guide doesn't cover this that I can tell.

Thanks!

-- TWiki Guest - 2019-05-20

Discussion and Answer

Quick check: Can youi login under http://mywiki/bin/login/Project1/ ?

If so, then I guess that the problem here is a mismatch between the Apache and TWiki configurations. In your TWiki configuration you should have, in the section "General path settings", the {ScriptUrlPath} set to /bin. The symptom you describe can be caused by having an empty value for that setting.

(Disclaimer: I don't use Apache any more so my knowledge is from fading memories)

-- Harald Jörg - 2019-05-21

The URL http://mywiki/bin/login/Project1/ successfully loads the login page, yes. If I try to login, though, the form loads https://mywiki.org/login/Project1/WebHome as an error page with the message

The "login/Project1" web does not exist.

I tried changing {ScriptUrlPath} as you've suggested, but after some confusion I realized that the change isn't saving. I'm absolutely certain I'm hitting the Save button at the end of the config process, and I get the confirmation $TWiki::cfg{ScriptUrlPath} \ '/bin';=, but every time I return to the configure page, {ScriptUrlPath} has been reset to an empty value.

Have you ever seen this, or can you guess the problem?

-- TWiki Guest - 2019-05-21

This is the symptom I would expect: TWiki is basing all links on ScriptUrlPath, including all redirections. The text of the message comes from the fact that / is mapped to /bin/view, and if you have hierarchical webs, then you could have URLs like /login/Project1. Well, actually not, because TWiki enforces web names to start with an uppercase character, but the error message doesn't know this.

I've two guesses:

1. Perhaps the web server user doesn't have write permission to your lib/LocalSite.cfg file? I've usually set it to readonly, to keep myself from shooting into my own foot
2. You need to restart the web server for changes to come into effect. I don't recall whether the defaults in the configure screen are taken from the file or from the session.

In any case, you can try to edit the file by hand.

-- Harald Jörg - 2019-05-21

The non-saving config does sound like a permissions issue, but the Apache user www-data has write access to everything in the path to /var/www/twiki/lib/LocalSite.cfg:

<verbatim> drwxrwx--- 14 www-data www-data twiki drwxr-xr-x 5 www-data www-data lib -rw-r--r-- 1 www-data www-data LocalSite.cfg </verbatim>

Nevertheless, I was able to edit LocalSite.cfg successfully to set {ScriptUrlPath} equal to '/bin'. Everything works! Logins, edits, site navigation, etc. I'm going to worry about the permissions thing later.

Thanks for your help so far, Harald. I have one more question that I'll post separately.

-- TWiki Guest - 2019-05-21

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