Drupal 8 install does not warn if Clean Urls are not supported

I stumbled across this problem when I installed Drupal 8 locally here at DrupalCon. Took me and a few others quite a while to work out what was wrong. Just tested the patch and the fact that the requirements message is now there is great. Seems to work fine.

However, in #1878884: Drupal8 doesn't warn you if apache rewrite is turned off it says that "dirty" urls now take the format of index.php/...

This patch however blocks the installation from continuing even if someone wanted to keep using dirty urls due to their setup. Is this the case? Can someone confirm if Drupal 8 is supporting systems without clean url support? Is the form system broken completely if they are disabled? If there is no support the error and the documentation page should be clearer about this.

I've been testing Ubuntu installs, and the default config for apache2 in Ubuntu 12.04 doesn't have mod_rewrite enabled (it requires an sudo a2enmod rewrite && sudo service apache2 restart). I spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out what was wrong, since drush installed drupal without a problem. I couldn't log in, or submit any forms, though I could visit the password reset page and the registration page.

Also, I marked #1878884: Drupal8 doesn't warn you if apache rewrite is turned off as a duplicate instead of 'wontfix', because it made it seem like we don't care about the problem.

You don't need to have rewrite enabled as long as you use index.php explicitly.

For example if nothing works on http://localhost/drupal8/ (no login, no ajax requests or navigation), change it to http://localhost/drupal8/index.php and everything will work as expected.

Ah, didn't think about the index.php trick... but it's still not very obvious :(

Apaches doesn't always install with rewrite enabled.

Such is the case on Ubuntu 12.04, which is surely one of the more commonly-used distros? I personally use CentOS for almost everything, and 6.x apache yum install does have rewrite enabled, but a lot of clients/others seem to use Ubuntu for some reason—that's why I ran into the issue.

This issue is related to #2038305: Latest D8-dev appears to install fine but cannot login or view any nodes, all pages 'Page not found'
The patch needed a reroll. I rerolled it and tested it. It shows a warning while installing if Clean URLs are not enabled.
But drupal 8 should work even without Clean URLs enabled. It should automatically fallback to use index.php in the url if Clean URLs are not enabled

I went over change records in https://drupal.org/node/1659580 and issue #1183208: Remove variable_get('clean_url') and switch to index.php/path pattern for dirty URL support and it seems that the clean url configuration varibale has been removed. Whether the site is using clean urls is detected by index.php in the url. If url has index.php/, then all the links are relative to this url and have index.php/ . If the link does not have index.php, then either clean url should be enabled or you have to manually add index.php in the url for one time.

I update the above patch with better error message. Also, the link refrenced in the patch (http://drupal.org/node/15365) does not have a drupal 8 section. I am adding it. Please review it.
updated screenshot -

15: drupal-norewrite_warning-2094985-15.patch queued for re-testing.

adding related change record

Having just wasted several hours trying to work out why Drupal 8 would not install properly on a new server, I finally found this thread. I'm sure it will help a lot of people when this patch is done. Do you need help with it?

At the Drupal 8 Code Sprint in Antwerp, Belgium we've also wasted time trying to figure out what was wrong.

mod_rewrite isn't enabled on default OS X Apache installs either. The warning about disabled Clean URLs would have been handy.

The patch in comment 15 did not apply anymore. I rerolled it and made it a REQUIREMENT_ERROR as well as Drupal really does not work well without mod_rewrite enabled and Clean URLs working. You _can_ add index.php to the URL every time but that is really no solution. When a user installs Drupal it should just work when the install completes.

I came across this issue today and it drove me crazy as basically all Drupal 8 URL's are loaded, but no forms would save. It was only through dumping $_SERVER data out I spotted 404 response codes and figured it out.

I tried installing Drupal 7 with the same PHP/Apache config and after install every link is automatically prefixed with index.php/ so they still work, is there a technical reason Drupal 8 can't handle this in the same way?

I agree having a warning/notification in the status report or installation page is useful also, as a reminder of what may be causing clean URL's not to be working, and they are obviously highly desirable.

Edit: Sorry I meant /?q= for Drupal 7, however if you enable clean URL's and then disable the rewrite apache module you get the same behaviour, with forms displaying but not saving. A notification on I think the status report page/install requirements page that can detect whether the rewrite module is working would solve this, as it's where I tend to look when things aren't working.

I agree with @chris_hall_hu_cheng that this should be committed asap in some way, at the very least as a warning message.
This will save a lot of people time researching why their site isn't working.

I don't know if anyone would ever want to install D8 on a server without mod_rewrite, but it seems a bit harsh to make it a hard requirement.
Making it a warning might be enough, people usually try to fix all the errors and warnings when installing Drupal anyway.

Hi,
Struggled with this too.
Why default front page (after installation) is automagically set to /index.php/?
I do have mod_rewrite enabled.
And, seems like clean URLs conf settings are gone

Tested patch #23 and worked perfectly.

Disabled mod rewrite, started the install, got the new informative message with the handy link to what to do, enabled mod rewrite, restarted apache and the install completed successfully. Nice and simple and will help lots of folks. (Me too! I got this when I started working on D8).

This patch solves a major #DrupalWTF/regression in Drupal 8... I've run into the issue twice, and I generally remember to have mod_rewrite enabled (and know how to enable it). I imagine there are many others who download D8, try installing it on a fresh Ubuntu 12.04 server or something like that (without mod_rewrite enabled by default), and give up on D8 after no helpful errors are displayed.

[Edit: Patch adds a global... I just sanity-checked and tested it, so code might be able to be cleaned up, but regardless, this should be fixed before 8.0.0].

Back to CNW... after discussing issue with chx in IRC, he made some very valid points about how this patch should not be futzing with so many environment-specific settings, but rather focus on seeing that something is broken, and pointing people to the Drupal installation help docs (where we should improve the mention of mod_rewrite being a requirement as well).

Another thing that would help move this request along (from YesCT in IRC): get a recent screenshot of the requirements page, and put a before and after in the summary, in the ui changes section.

So Drupal 8 is supposed to work without mod_rewrite. If it does not that is the regression. I agree that we sh/could have a requirements warning and say that mod_rewrite is recommended.

I can confirm the behaviour that is reported in the issue summary - if mod_rewrite is disabled forms work if the url has /index.php/ in it but do not if they don't. After installing with mod_rewrite disabled you are taken a url without index.php/ so yes this is fundamentally broken. Reclassifying as a bug. We might end up saying that the simplest way to fix this is to require mod_rewrite - but then we might be able to make further simplifications.

We can add a warning here and create a new issue to fix form submissions with mod_rewrite disabled and no index.php/ prefix

Some screenshots as requested by YesCT in #23

Patched with rewrite off

Patched with rewrite restored and a forced error

Updated issue summary.

New patch that:
* Changed from a requirement to warning.
* Change value to Disabled and move help text to description (to follow pattern of the other requirements)
* Slight modification to description

And I like @alexpott's suggestion of a new issue.

Here is the new separate issue. #2376369: Drupal 8 does not work without Clean Urls. Fix form submissions with mod_rewrite disabled and no index.php/ prefix

@chris_hall_hu_cheng unassigning from you so it is clear that others can work on this. please jump back into this anytime. :)

screenshot of patch in #35 with the warning.

I also reworked the handbook page
https://www.drupal.org/getting-started/clean-urls
adding a table of contents, so finding the drupal 8 information should be easier.
And improved some wording there.

I tried this with the rewrite mod disabled and the warning worked.

Dont worry about the strange styling, that is due to #2376147: Installer is missing all of the global Seven theme stylesheets

+++ b/core/modules/system/system.install
@@ -54,6 +55,16 @@ function system_requirements($phase) {
+      'description' => t('Your system configuration does not currently support this feature. Drupal may not work properly without being able to rewrite URLs. The <a href="@link">handbook page on Clean URLs</a> has additional troubleshooting information.', array('@link' => 'http://drupal.org/node/15365'))

This actually gets to my problem with this issue. Drupal should work without mod_rewrite. If it does not that is a bug and if that was solved this warning is irrelevant.

I guess I would be happier if we were recommending that mod_rewrite gives a better user experience.

An attempt at improved text as per @alexpott.

I just upgraded my Linux desktop and forgot to enable mod_rewrite. Drupal 8 is unusable without mod_rewrite. You can't log in. If you do force a login with drush uli, you can't save any forms.

Drupal should work without mod_rewrite. If it does not that is a bug and if that was solved this warning is irrelevant.

Looks like I've got some issues to file. :)

Drupal 8 is supposed to work without mod_rewrite per @alexpott, so this patch is correct. It applies cleanly and shows message shown during install.

why is Clean capitalised? I'm still ambivalent about this patch since I think this is not an issue if #2099311: User login not working if mod_rewrite is not enabled is fixed. Also, if we are going to have this warning, then it would be helpful not just in the installer.

I tried to actually use Drupal 8 for the first time yesterday to look into fixing my favorite Views bug #2379423: Representative Node Views fails due to invalid SQL. I've installed before, but never attempted to build something. It didn't even occur to me to check if I'd enabled mod_rewrite on my fresh Linux install, because "Clean URLs are optional in Drupal" and I didn't see a "?q=" (I understand now that is gone.) Drupal was completely unusable. I checked the Apache error logs, status report, database logs, and even tried re-installing again. Everything was broken (due to forms not working) and errors were being logged during install #2365157: No contextual ids specified during installation w/o mod_rewrite.

I realized just how many people will have this problem after reading chris_hall_hu_cheng's comment #45. Drupal 8 should temporarily have a mod_rewrite REQUIREMENT_ERROR in both install requirements and the status report until #2099311: User login not working if mod_rewrite is not enabled is fixed. If that issue can be handled quickly aka before the next Beta, then this patch is unnecessary (I agree with alex in #44.)

@alexpott, I agree that fixing #2099311 is preferred. However, encountering this problem is preventing people from engaging with Drupal 8. So, for me that is enough reason to put this in, even if the number effected is small.

@alexpott, please elaborate where else you'd like the message. Maybe the status report?

Is this, currently, a requirement or a warning? The webserver requirements state "mod_rewrite needs to be installed and enabled for Drupal 8 to work." That sounds like a requirement to me. Of course, that can change when #2099311 is fixed.

Fixed spelling, and changed link text to match destination page title.

hrm yes a drupal install that seems to handle GET but not POST is a real user experience killer :) Whether this happens during install, or sometime after install when a server is reconfigured or a site is moved between servers. The Drupal site is only totally borked if it's in a subdirectory, because the 404 ErrorDocument configured in .htaccess is top-level /index.php (which either doesn't exist or points at some other site)

Seems bad enough that this broken state should be described in both README.txt and core/INSTALL.txt, and the user instructed to insert "index.php" into their URL.

@quietone the requirements document was incorrectly updated recently - it is the last edit https://www.drupal.org/node/1783056/revisions/view/7302541/7674123 - the edit is, in my opinion, as wrong as this issue. We should not have a requirement on mod_rewrite unless we decide to do that.

if the status page works without clean urls, then yes, that seems like a reasonable place to put this warning also.

adding a tag to group together issues people commonly run into when trying to get d8 to run on a local dev env.

Count me as one of the "poor souls" who wasted several hours tonight figuring this one out. Since this has been a known issue for over a year and there seems to be disagreement on a real fix, perhaps one suggestion would be to update the documentation in the system requirements section. Right now, under Apache, there's a statement:

Note that with Drupal 8, clean urls are enabled by default and can't be disabled, so mod_rewrite needs to be installed and enabled for Drupal 8 to work.

Perhaps a note could be added as to the failure conditions (i.e. forms will not save, login does not work, etc.) so that a user searching for that behavior might stumble across the reason.

I guess I'm having a hard time understanding the statements peppered above that Drupal 8 does not require mod_rewrite or clean urls. The way I understand it (and maybe you can clarify) is that Drupal 8 has clean urls enabled by default. For clean urls to work, mod_rewrite must be enabled. Therefore, the default Drupal 8 installation requires mod_rewrite. Without it, in the current state, Drupal 8 is broken upon installation.

I'm not familiar with the inner workings of Drupal 8 and don't know what it takes to get things approved, but I see a few possible solutions here:

- If mod_rewrite is indeed not a pre-requisite for Drupal 8 installation, disable clean urls by default and allow the user to enable (with clear instructions that mod_rewrite is needed, or an automatic test to make sure it is enabled)
- Test for mod_rewrite during installation. If it is present, enable clean urls, if not, disable them.
- Add a section to the status report. That was the first thing I checked when I was having the problem. There should be a warning if mod_rewrite is not enabled but clean urls are. This is perhaps the simplest solution.
- If mod_rewrite is in fact a true requirement, test for it during installation. During my first installation, the installer told me that I need to enable GD for PHP, so I did.

I have a hard time understanding how doing nothing is better than doing something. Even a partial solution (especially if it's an easy one) is a step in the right direction. It really surprises me that this hasn't gotten more attention than it appears to be getting. I certainly can't imagine allowing Drupal 8 to ship as an RC with this behavior.

@chris_hall_hu_cheng, thanks for your time spent working on this and for fighting on behalf of all of us who have experienced frustration because of this bug. I'm running Linux Mint 17, which is based on Ubuntu 14.04, and frequently spin up vagrant boxes based on Ubuntu 14.04. I think a not-insignificant number of people are in a similar situation.

So what is the path forward here? I haven't been terribly "plugged in" to the Drupal community thus far, so I'm not aware of the internal politics, but I'd be willing to throw my small voice in support of finding some kind of a solution, no matter what that ends up being. How can we get the issue some added visibility?

I'll be at DrupalCamp Michigan tomorrow, and will bring it up there.

This is definitely a problem.

updating issue summary referencing #2382513: Regression fix: allow Drupal 8 to work without Apache mod_rewrite

ps. note, you can make nice references to issues using the format [#NNNNNN]

This issue is works as designed if you have mod rewrite enable Drupal 8 will use it if you don't then it is supposed to work too - there is no requirement for a warning.

Let's get #2382513: Regression fix: allow Drupal 8 to work without Apache mod_rewrite in.

Hi,

I am using the drupal-8.0.x-dev.zip version but getting the same issue. while rewrite module is enabled.

@devd Could you open up a new issue with details for your specific case?

I just installed 8.3.7 and immediately go head to head with a clean urls error which I am told I can ignore because once you get past the installation everything works fine but then I find my admin links are not working because of this issue and then I have no default theme working on my admin pages . Is this because I am using php 7 or ubuntu 16.04 .... I guess not because everyone seems to be reporting the same problems for four years straight. What user wants to solve every problem that should have been solved once and for all a long time ago. It is sad that American quality is so bad that the head of NASA has to express that America has lost it's quality culture. Take some time and fix the basics before going further on. No wonder everyone but the most expert are going to wordpress. So sad. works as designed...what a joke.

@jbdrupal if you are at Drupalcon Vienna I'd be happy to review this with you. Otherwise please feel free to open a new issue with the details of your environment and please link reference this issue as similar.

As it stands this should work with or without mod_rewrite enabled, so we are no longer warning that you don't have mod_rewrite because it's not a requirement anymore, which makes it tricky to provide a warning for something that should work if you have or don't have mod_rewrite. The non-mod_rewrite expects Apache 2.4, which may be the case for anybody who finds themselves here, but that is a guess without details.

The comment about NASA is off topic and unwarranted, and to be honest a bit trolling so I don't want to baited. Suffice to say https://xkcd.com/386/