In Apache does the .htaccess file override the httpd.conf for mod_rewrites?

Question

In my Apache httpd.conf file I have this declaration inside a VirtualHost tag.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.shanestillwell.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.shanestillwell.com/$1 [L,R=301]

And this inside my .htaccess

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !=/favicon.ico
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?q=$1 [L,QSA]

The rule in my httpd.conf seems to be ignored. Are the rules in .htaccess wiping out the httpd.conf rewrite rule?

Answer 1

Generally your settings in .htaccess file inside a directory overrides httpd.conf file settings. You can disable this effect by editing your httpd.conf file and change the following line

  <Directory ...> 
  AllowOverride all

to

    <Directory ...> 
    AllowOverride none

This will prevent .htaccess file from overriding httpd.conf settings. So the settings in .htaccess file will have no effect.

Answer 2

if you have a <Directory ...> with AllowOverride all then whatever you have on your .htaccess file will be replacing any previous rule.

It could be in your httpd.conf or on your virtualhost as long as it point to / or to your domain path.