WordPress MU

So I got WPMU to install and SEEM to work. I noticed that there was NO .htaccess file. So when I click any link on the blog it will just toss me a 500 error.

For sake of information I am using Dreamhost's shared hosting which they state "The feature is fully-supported on all DreamHost plans", referring to the .htaccess file.

I took the .dist version of htaccess and renamed it to it's proper name. It starts tossing 500 errors. I removed the tailing section (security) as was mentioned in another post. Still tosses 500's. I am now unsure what should be done next. My .htaccess looks like this :

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase BASE/

#uploaded files
RewriteRule ^(.*/)?files/$ index.php [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !.*wp-content/plugins.*
RewriteRule ^(.*/)?files/(.*) wp-content/blogs.php?file=$2 [L]

# add a trailing slash to /wp-admin
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^.*/wp-admin$
RewriteRule ^(.+)$ $1/ [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule . - [L]
RewriteRule  ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(wp-.*) $2 [L]
RewriteRule  ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(.*\.php)$ $2 [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]

Final question, was WPMU supposed to create the .htaccess file? Because it didn't if it was supposed to.

Thank you
Ryan

Also, I looked into the "1 click easy install" version of WP that dreamhost sets up for you and found the .htaccess THEY use for standard WP installs, I don't know if it will be of any help to anyone..

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress

Oh yeah, and as a software developer, I am the normal type. I'm not the PHP junkie type. I get to write in fun C# M$ code and I hate writing regular expressions with a passion. They are powerful beasts tho.. So yeah I will fully express that I don't know crap about standard apache / php stuff beyond the xamp installation I have.

Thanks further.. :)

Ryan

Problem solved. Dreamhost does not allow WPMU on shared hosting. It supposedly creates performance problems.

They DO however have it for their non-shared hosting. One of the tech support people pointed me to the WPMU section of the dreamhost wiki. If some other DH user comes across this, here it is.

http://wiki.dreamhost.com/WordPress_MU

It has the full information on how to setup WPMU under DH's non shared.

Ryan

That's actually interesting xD

Looks like I may have to disable MU on my site, since I use Dreamhost with mu. When I set it up months ago there was definitely no mention on that wiki page about it being not allowed for shared hosting, and their tech guys helped me by turning on the wildcard DNS after I said I wanted to use mu.

Depends on the account you're using. They were letting them on the shared accounts, then changed policy. They're probably just watching the previous installs for signs of overusage. Then upsell you accordingly. :)

It's kind of crazy really. The code base is largely the same between standard and MU correct? They have no limit on the number of standard WP installs one can make on a given standard hosting account so why not simply allow for MU? I would think that MU would handle say 10 blogs easier than 10 separate installs and maybe 10 separate DBs.

Ryan

Gonna be interesting for web hosts after they merge the codebases.

Well, I'm sorted for now. I talked to dreamhost and they said it only applied to new attempts at installing mu so I'm allowed to keep it. Sucks for anyone wanting to try it out but ends up good for me.

Just as an FYI, if you have to add the htaccess file from the .dist, this line:

RewriteBase BASE/

needs to be changed to RewriteBase / if it's in the root folder.

Before trying to install a new WPMU under the main domain of a Godaddy shared hosting, I allready had another application running under another domain wich was aliased to a subdirectory of the main. Hope you know what I mean.
After installing WPMU, the application gives 500 errors when trying to reach a file in another subdirectory. Deleting .htaccess of the WPMU installation solves the problem of the other application.

I have an older Godaddy account whith the same issues and both applications run without problem.

If someone has a solution, I would be very gratefull. But I read somewhere here that in new shared accounts servers are not allowing this «overusage».

Thanks a lot for your help!