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files/no-empty-htaccess ​

Severity: error · Status: enforced · Applies to: ids/**/.htaccess

What ​

An .htaccess that is empty, or contains only comments, does not configure anything.

Why ​

An identifier whose rules file says nothing resolves to a 404. To anyone using the identifier that is indistinguishable from an identifier that was never created — except that the directory is there, so the name is taken.

This usually happens one of two ways: a file created as a placeholder and never filled in, or a file whose rules were commented out during debugging and never restored.

Wrong ​

apache
# tbd
apache
# Redirects for my-project
#RewriteEngine on
#RewriteRule ^$ https://example.org/ [R=302,L]
apache
# Redirects for my-project
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^$ https://example.org/ [R=302,L]

The exception: a directory that only groups sub-identifiers ​

A directory may exist only to hold sub-identifiers that each resolve on their own, and then it has no redirect of its own to carry:

ids/my-project/
├── .htaccess              ← comments only, and correct
├── v1/.htaccess           ← resolves
└── v2/.htaccess           ← resolves

Comments there are the recommended way to claim the root of such an identifier — see meta/document-identifier-root — so this rule stays quiet when a descendant .htaccess carries directives. files/htaccess-required makes the same exception.

The check is for a descendant that resolves, not for comments that look purposeful. A comments-only .htaccess with nothing below it is still an error, because nothing under that name resolves at all. An empty file is always an error: a zero-byte placeholder claims a name and serves nothing.

How to fix ​

Write the redirect, or remove the directory so the name is free for somebody who will use it.

How to check ​

Run w3id-check with --rule files/no-empty-htaccess to check this rule on its own; without it the tool runs every rule, as the pull request checks do.

sh
node tools/check/bin/w3id-check.js --rule files/no-empty-htaccess ids/my-project

Testing your changes covers installing the tool, and what else is worth checking by hand.

See also ​