Can't see root level non-ee php files

Question

Weird one - haven't seen this before. Just launched a newly upgraded from ee1 to ee2 site at www.bankofmarin.com. Everything works fine. This is a Structure site and I have strict URLs on to enforce 404 with bad URLs. Works fine.

We need to place some non-ee php files in the root, and they just aren't working. This one https://www.bankofmarin.com/t.php should show the date. Instead I get the 404 page.

Here is my htaccess:

# Enable Rewrite Engine
# ------------------------------
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /

# Use Dynamic robots.txt file
# ------------------------------
RewriteRule robots\.txt /robots.php [L]


# Force the www - this version will not force www on subdomains, only http://bankofmarin.com
# ------------------------------
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^bankofmarin.com [NC] 
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]


# Force https - this will only force https on the www site
# ------------------------------
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} 80
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^dev\.
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^staging\.
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.bankofmarin.com/$1 [R=301,L]


# Redirect index.php Requests
# ------------------------------
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^GET.*index\.php [NC]
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} !/admin/.*
RewriteRule (.*?)index\.php/*(.*) /$1$2 [R=301,L]


# Standard ExpressionEngine Rewrite
# ------------------------------
RewriteCond $1 !\.(css|js|gif|jpe?g|png) [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php/$1 [L]

I thought it might be something in there but its all pretty straightforward. Any ideas?

Answer 1

I'm not an .htaccess guru, but we worked with someone to develop a base .htaccess file for use with our clients, and they all contain this

## MOD REWRITE BASE
## Checks for file/folder before serving pages in ExpressionEngine
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond $1 !\.(gif|jpe?g|png|txt)$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php/$1 [L]
#RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.domain.org/$1 [R]
## END MOD REWRITE

The goal was to always have EE check to see if there was a file that existed first, then process ExpressionEngine requests and it's been working for us. We just modify the {domain} component for each client.

If I recall, the consultant who helped us with this said that

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

checks for the file name first, then

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d

checks for a directory with said, file, then

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php/$1 [L]

removes the index.php. The remainder is the domain magic.

We've been using that as a base for .htaccess file for over 6-8 years now, it it hasn't failed us.