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Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 07:24:53 -0500
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Subject: Re: [Patch] Simplifying mod_alias
From: Eric Covener <covener@gmail.com>
To: Apache HTTP Server Development List <dev@httpd.apache.org>
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On Mon, Dec 22, 2014 at 5:15 AM, Graham Leggett <minfrin@sharp.fm> wrote:
> The expression support is a superset of the regex support, making the reg=
ex support redundant.
>
> The *Match parameters are self contained, you cannot make a backreference=
 outside the scope of that single directive. In contrast the LocationMatch/=
DirectoryMatch sections are not self contained, their backreferences are ex=
posed to expressions and can be used and reused in many unrelated directive=
s.
>
> I have heard growing criticism of httpd for being too complicated, and th=
is is an attempt to address that. Supporting 7 directives to do the job of =
just 3 makes people=E2=80=99s eyes bleed.

You'll still have 7 directives though.  Some of them will be marked
deprecated because they're less flexible. Sometimes less flexible is a
sign of simplicity and not something to be relegated to a compat
module.

You'll also have two modules and two pages in the manual. The examples
for Redirect will now have configuration sections with named
back-references and won't work in htaccess.

These users whose eyes bleed at the difference between Redirect and
RedirectMatch or trying to capture the first component of the path
aren't exactly going to do cartwheels when at the idea of new
configuration sections and named back-references to accomplish a basic
task.

I still don't see any reason to call the existing *Match deprecated to
add expression support.