Apache: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition

MultiviewsMatch

MultiviewsMatch permits three different behaviors for mod_negotiation’s Multiviews feature.

MultiviewsMatch [NegotiatedOnly] [Handlers] [Filters] [Any]
server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess
Compatibility: only available in Apache 2.0.26 and later.

Multiviews allows a request for a file, e.g., index.html, to match any negotiated extensions following the base request, e.g., index.html.en, index.html.fr, or index.html.gz.

The NegotiatedOnly option provides that every extension following the base name must correlate to a recognized mod_mime extension for content negotiation, e.g., Charset, Content-Type, Language, or Encoding. This is the strictest implementation with the fewest unexpected side effects, and it’s the default behavior.

To include extensions associated with Handlers and/or Filters, set the MultiviewsMatch directive to either Handlers, Filters, or both option keywords. If all other factors are equal, the smallest file will be served, e.g., in deciding between index.html.cgi of 500 characters and index.html.pl of 1,000 bytes, the .cgi file would win in this example. Users of .asis files might prefer to use the Handler option, if .asis files are associated with the asis-handler.

You may finally allow Any extensions to match, even if mod_mime doesn’t recognize the extension. This was the behavior in Apache 1.3 and can cause unpredictable results, such as serving .old or .bak files that the webmaster never expected to be served.