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redirect(8)		    System Manager's Manual		   redirect(8)

NAME
       redirect	- simple redirection CGI program

SYNOPSIS
       redirect

DESCRIPTION
       Three steps to set up a redirection:

       1. Make sure your web server is set up to allow CGI programs.

       2.  Make	 a  symbolic link from the file	or directory you want to redi-
       rect, pointing at this program in the CGI bin directory.

       3. Add an entry to the file ".redirects"	in the	directory  where  your
       http server runs	CGI programs.  For most	servers, this is the directory
       where  the  given CGI program lives.  The format	of the file is a bunch
       of lines	with a filename, whitespace, and the new URL.  For example:
	 /test/oldfile.html    http://www.acme.com/test/newfile.html
       The easiest way to figure out  precisely	 what  filename	 to  put  into
       .redirects  is  to set up the symlink and then click on it.  You'll get
       back a "404 Not Found" page which includes the filename as received  by
       the redirect program, and that's	what you want to use.

       You  can	 also add a wildcard specification to redirect whole groups of
       files.  For example:
	 /wildtest/*	      http://www.acme.com/test-
       will cause an access to the /wildtest/somefile.html to be redirected to
       http://www.acme.com/test-somefile.html. (Note that  the	asterisk  need
       not be preceded by a slash.)

       Note:   this   is   designed   for   thttpd  (http://www.acme.com/soft-
       ware/thttpd/) and using it with other  web  servers  may	 require  some
       hacking.	 A possible gotcha is with the symbolic	link from the old file
       pointing	 at this script	- servers other	than thttpd may	not allow that
       link to be run as a CGI program,	because	they don't check the  link  to
       see that	it points into the allowed CGI directory.

SEE ALSO
       thttpd(8)

BUGS / DEFICIENCIES
       It  would  be  really cool to have this program look for	the .redirects
       file in the same	directory as the file being redirected,	instead	of  in
       the  binaries  directory.  Unfortunately, this appears to be impossible
       with the	information CGI	gives, plus  the  non-standardized  but	 wide-
       spread  practice	of running CGI programs	in the directory where the bi-
       nary lives.  Perhaps CGI	1.2 will address this.

       The wildcard mechanism is very primitive.  In particular,  any  charac-
       ters that follow	the asterisk are blithely ignored.

AUTHOR
       Copyright   1995	 by Jef	Poskanzer <jef@mail.acme.com>.	All rights re-
       served.

			       23 September 1995		   redirect(8)

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