.htaccess internal server error 500

Question

I have an .htaccess file. The content is:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
   RewriteEngine on
   RewriteRule (.*\.(png|gif|jpg|jpeg|js|css|swf))$ webroot/img_handler.php?arg=$1 [L] 
   RewriteRule    ^$ webroot/    [L]
   RewriteRule    (.*) webroot/$1 [L]
</IfModule>
# test 5

# disable directory browsing -IMPORTANT, do NOT remove.
Options -Indexes

# protect the htaccess file
<files .htaccess>
order allow,deny
deny from all
</files>

# disable the server signature
ServerSignature Off


# protect php.ini
<files *.ini>
order allow,deny
deny from all
</files>

and this is cause an internal server error, what's the problem?

thx: pixeles

Answer 1

It's because of this line:

RewriteRule    (.*) webroot/$1 [L]

The rewrite engine loops until the URI stops changing, and the (.*) pattern is matching everything, including webroot/whatever. Try adding a condition in front of it:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !webroot
RewriteRule    (.*) webroot/$1 [L]