PATH_INFO, ORIG_PATH_INFO, APACHE and PHP

A little while back I was trying to make a router for my application which I had grouped into classes. So a url could be like this :

www.site.com/index.php/class_name/method?id=15
or
www.site.com/index.php/controller/action?id=15 in the MVC style
or
localhost/project/index.php/class_name/method?id=15

PHP MVC frameworks like codeigniter use urls like that.

Apache makes available a variable called PATH_INFO to PHP which stores
the portion of the url between script and query string that is /class_name/method

On Localhost

index.php
print_r($_SERVER)

shows :

     [SERVER_SIGNATURE] => <address>Apache/2.2.8 (Ubuntu) PHP/5.2.4-2ubuntu5.7 with Suhosin-Patch Server at localhost Port 80</address>
     [SERVER_SOFTWARE] => Apache/2.2.8 (Ubuntu) PHP/5.2.4-2ubuntu5.7 with Suhosin-Patch
    [SERVER_NAME] => localhost
    [SERVER_ADDR] => 127.0.0.1
    [SERVER_PORT] => 80
    [REMOTE_ADDR] => 127.0.0.1
    [DOCUMENT_ROOT] => /var/www/
    [SCRIPT_FILENAME] => /var/www/project/index.php
    [REMOTE_PORT] => 39733
    [REQUEST_METHOD] => GET
    [QUERY_STRING] => id=15
    [REQUEST_URI] => /project/index.php/class_name/method?id=15
    [SCRIPT_NAME] => /project/index.php
    [PATH_INFO] => /class_name/method
    [PATH_TRANSLATED] => /var/www/class_name/method
    [PHP_SELF] => /project/index.php/class_name/method

Next using .htaccess to redirect localhost/project/class_name/method to localhost/project/index.php/class_name/method and again viewing the $_SERVER variable with url : localhost/project/class_name/method

shows :

     [SERVER_SIGNATURE] => <address>Apache/2.2.8 (Ubuntu) PHP/5.2.4-2ubuntu5.7 with Suhosin-Patch Server at localhost Port 80</address>
     [SERVER_SOFTWARE] => Apache/2.2.8 (Ubuntu) PHP/5.2.4-2ubuntu5.7 with Suhosin-Patch
    [SERVER_NAME] => localhost
    [SERVER_ADDR] => 127.0.0.1
    [SERVER_PORT] => 80
    [REMOTE_ADDR] => 127.0.0.1
    [DOCUMENT_ROOT] => /var/www/
    [SCRIPT_FILENAME] => /var/www/project/index.php
    [REMOTE_PORT] => 39734
    [REDIRECT_QUERY_STRING] => id=15
    [REDIRECT_URL] => /project/class_name/method
    [REQUEST_METHOD] => GET
    [QUERY_STRING] => id=15
    [REQUEST_URI] => /project/class_name/method?id=15
    [SCRIPT_NAME] => /project/index.php
    [PATH_INFO] => /class_name/method
    [PATH_TRANSLATED] => /var/www/class_name/method
    [PHP_SELF] => /project/index.php/class_name/method

In both the above PATH_INFO is identical results , REQUEST_URI is different.

On Webserver
Now when the same code was put up on the webserver ::::

without .htaccess redirect , url like domain.com/project/index.php/class_name/method?id=15

shows :

    [SERVER_SOFTWARE] => Apache/2.2.13 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.13 OpenSSL/0.9.8e-fips-rhel5 mod_bwlimited/1.4
    [PATH_INFO] => /class_name/method
    [PATH_TRANSLATED] => /home/celcscom/public_html/project/index.php
    [QUERY_STRING] => id=15
    [REDIRECT_STATUS] => 200
    [REMOTE_ADDR] => 59.93.245.243
    [REMOTE_PORT] => 60157
    [REQUEST_METHOD] => GET
    [REQUEST_URI] => /project/index.php/class_name/method?id=15
    [SCRIPT_FILENAME] => /home/celcscom/public_html/project/index.php
    [SCRIPT_NAME] => /project/index.php
    [SERVER_ADDR] => 216.67.245.98
    [SERVER_PORT] => 80
    [PHP_SELF] => /project/index.php/class_name/method

PATH_INFO is same as localhost.

The difference came when using .htaccess redirect , the output

shows :

    [SERVER_SOFTWARE] => Apache/2.2.13 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.13 OpenSSL/0.9.8e-fips-rhel5 mod_bwlimited/1.4
    [QUERY_STRING] => id=15
    [REDIRECT_QUERY_STRING] => id=15
    [REDIRECT_STATUS] => 200
    [REDIRECT_UNIQUE_ID] => SsI359hD9WIAAHMWpgEAAAAD
    [REDIRECT_URL] => /project/class_name/method
    [REQUEST_METHOD] => GET
    [REQUEST_URI] => /project/class_name/method?id=15
    [SCRIPT_FILENAME] => /home/celcscom/public_html/project/index.php
    [SCRIPT_NAME] => /project/index.php
    [SERVER_ADDR] => 216.67.245.98
    [ORIG_PATH_INFO] => /class_name/method
    [ORIG_PATH_TRANSLATED] => /home/celcscom/public_html/project/index.php
    [PHP_SELF] => /project/index.php

PATH_INFO is missing but ORIG_PATH_INFO is there with the information PATH_INFO was supposed to have.

So the php code had to be changed to check for $_SERVER['ORIG_PATH_INFO'] when $_SERVER['PATH_INFO'] is absent

PATH_INFO relies on the Apache AcceptPathInfo Directive

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