[Invalid]: 301 Redirect to /gallery/ from /gallery/index.php not working

[Dean Birinyi]

Hello!

I would like to ask for some help. i feel it is important to let you know that I am a photographer not a tech and am at a loss for understanding the help files on htaccess available through google. I turn to you guys because you're sharp and clear.

I am hosted on Bluehost.

http://www.djbphoto.com/gallery/

My SEO consultants have direct me to perform this alteration:
http://www.djbphoto.com/gallery/index.php and http://www.djbphoto.com/gallery (Redirect first to second)

I tried to initiate a redirect at the root level and it simply wouldn't work. I called Bluehost support, they reviewed the matter and said a simple redirect wouldn't work because of the htaccess in the gallery directory and that I would have to make changes to that which are beyond their authorization to perform, also they said it would be kinda complex.

Can anyone assist me in modifying the code to meet the directive ordered by my SEO?

Thank you for your time.

[Joachim Müller]

Coppermine doesn't come with a .htaccess file, so if your gallery folder contains one, it must have been generated by you or by your webhost. Anyway, we can't help you with this, as this entirely a matter of server setup and not related to coppermine, as we could talk about any folder with an index file in it. Ask your webhost or google for help - this is not the proper place for your question.

[Dean Birinyi]

Well, now I am quite confused.

This is not an htaccess file for my coppermine gallery?

##  ********************************************
##  Coppermine Photo Gallery
##  ************************
##  Copyright (c) 2003-2007 Coppermine Dev Team
##  v1.1 originaly written by Gregory DEMAR
##  v1.2+ update by Makc666
##
##  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
##  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3
##  as published by the Free Software Foundation.
## 
##  ********************************************
##  Coppermine version: 1.4.13
##  $Source$
##  $Revision: 3837 $
##  $Author: gaugau $
##  $Date: 2007-08-16 18:56:06 +0200 (Do, 16 Aug 2007) $
##  ********************************************

# v1.44

Options FollowSymLinks SymLinksIfOwnerMatch

RewriteEngine on

#  Uncomment the following line if your webserver's
#  URL is not directly related to physical file paths.
#  Update "YOUR_COPPERMINE_ROOT" (just / for root)

#RewriteBase /YOUR_COPPERMINE_ROOT


#
# Rewrite index urls
#
RewriteRule index-([0-9]+)\.html index.php?cat=$1 [NC]

RewriteRule index-([0-9]+)-page-([0-9]+)\.html index.php?cat=$1&page=$2 [NC]

#
# Rewrite thumbnail urls
#
RewriteRule search-thumbnails-(.*)\.html thumbnails.php?album=search&search=$1 [NC]

RewriteRule thumbnails-lastupby-([0-9]+)\.html thumbnails.php?album=lastupby&uid=$1 [NC]

I am confused because of the authorship credit of this file, gaugau. Is this an htaccess file from an older version that wasn't deleted during an upgrade? I ask this because it has 60 lines of RewriteRule code with your name on it.

So it would be safe for me to delete this file without disabling my gallery?

[Joachim Müller]

That's a .htaccess file generated by the unsupported plugin Sef_Urls. It's not a core component of coppermine. Delete it if it bothers you and uninstall the plugin if it's still active.
The fact that Makc666 shows through in that file means that you deliberately have installed that plugin, so you should be aware of that.

[Dean Birinyi]

Yes, I am aware that I installed that plug-in. I am also aware that it was noted as being buggy before I installed it. I will be uninstalling the plug-in and deleting the htaccess file.

Thank you for your grudging "help" in determining a potential source of the problem; I won't bother you again.

[Dean Birinyi]

Removing the plugin solved the problem.