.htaccess error document dropping HTTP_REFERER value somewhere?

the_real_dross

my old .htaccess document:

ErrorDocument 404 /cgi-bin/dross/fckup.pl

my old perl script:

print "\n\npissed by? " . $ENV{'HTTP_REFERER'};

pissed by? /somebadurl

HOWEVER I MOVED MY SCRIPT OVER TO PHP

my new .htaccess document

ErrorDocument 404 /cgi-bin/dross/fckup.php

my new php script:

echo "pissed by: " . $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'];

NOTHING!!!!

ANYBODY KNOWS WHAT GIVES.. THIS IS JUST HORRIBLE! THIS WILL BE THE VERY LAST LAST LAST PERL SCRIPT TO KISS THE DUST IF I CAN JUST MAKE IT PAST THIS ONE ISSUE..

THANKS TO EVERYBODY WHO USES AND SUPPORTS PHP I LOVE YOU ALL!!

the_Igel

What do you mean, "Nothing"? Completely no output? or script isn't called at all? Or just http_referer is missing?
I don't understand why do you print http_referer. If you mean the url that's absent, it should be REQUEST_URI, I believe.

the_real_dross

yes, totally absolutely nothing.. isset returns false, empty returns true.. and ever-stranger, doing a print_r($GLOBALS) the spot that's usually got the REFERER (right below HOST) is blank.. it's not even part of the array.. strangeness. i print them just to see them. REQUEST_URI gives me the script that has been called, not the page that REFERED me to the script (which is what i'm after)... i guess i could just do some javascript history(-1) kinda thing... but i've tried to swear off that stuff.

the_real_dross

the reason i am doing this, is because i want my error document to send me an email with the cause of the error, without http_referer the script just sends me an email with the error number (500, 404 etc) without the URL that caused it, which is the real pertinent info.. that's why i want it.

sarah

When you test it, are you actually coming from a page or just typing a bad URL in your browser? If you haven't already, try creating a bad link on a test web page. If there isn't a referal page, there wont be an 'HTTP_REFERER'.

the_real_dross

hmm.. that didn't seem to have any effect. i wonder what this is all about. on the perl error doc, it would show the referer as whatever i typed in, ie: for links or typeins. either way it was okay. isn't there some kind of referer switch that needs to be turned on in some php ini var?

tanks

the_Igel

I don't know, what is the problem.
For me,
ErrorDocument 404 /404.php
in .htaccess and
mail($me, 'Page not found: '.$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']);
works nice.

the_real_dross

the result of REQUEST_URI is exactly what i expected, the name of the script that contacts me:

ErrorDocument 404 /contact/?error=404

'Page not found: /contact/?error=404'

not much help as you could imagine.. must be an apache switch someplace i guess. who's your host? are the accepting new accounts?

the_Igel

It's not my host, it's yours.
My hosting is ValueHost (.ru, .com, or whatever). But they aren't nice really, for big site especially. Permanent technical troubles for large scale sites, as I heard (I haven't got big one, so it doesn't matter to me).

sarah

HTTP_REFERER is the page that referred the individual. REQUEST_URI, PATH_TRANSLATED, and SCRIPT_NAME all show the page with the script.

I used something like this for awhile...

$email="youruser@yourdomain.com";
if (!empty($HTTP_REFERER)){
  mail($email,"Broken Link","There is a broken link on this page: $HTTP_REFERER","");
}

No validation or fancy stuff...The only problem is that you would be amazed how out-of-date some directories are. You can get hundreds of broken link emails in a weekend that you cannot fix because they are from spider-run directories. Little frustrating...

sarah

Sorry guys...there is a very similar thread goin' on...meant to post to that one...

the_real_dross

no problem, this might be useful for your other thread. the reason i am doing this is exactly for the spiders. i am trying to pre-populate a form that a person can click to send me the actual email, that way only if a person really thinks its important (ie: wants to give up some contact info) do i get bothered by the bad link/error this is a filter of humanity between me and all the broken links, also i can parse the http_referer to send people to what I can guess they might be looking for in my lookup table of links that i know about that have been moved.

the_Igel

Why not use mod_rewrite rules?