i've run into an interesting ... side effect of using mod_rewrite and Apache::Session::File. an app that gets redirected via the RewriteEngine seems to lose its POST information ...

the backstory:
an application has a few steps to it, but doesn't *need* to be run through SSL until the final step, a credit card charge. now i suspect i could use GET, but i really don't want to be passing a credit card number in the GET string. it's just bad practice.

i grabbed a bit of Rewrite Rules from the FAQ for mod_ssl (http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.1/ssl/ssl_faq.html): 

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^/(.*):SSL$ https://%{SERVER_NAME}/$1 [R,L]
RewriteRule ^/(.*):NOSSL$ http://%{SERVER_NAME}/$1 [R,L]

[download]
and in the step where the creditcard is POSTed, i've changed the action to: <form name='checkout' method='POST' action='/order/fliers.cgi:SSL'>

URL redirection works like a champ, but a new session_id is generated, and the application ends up back on the first page .... which ... well, defeats the purpose.

before i make the whole app run through SSL (which isn't that big of a deal) is there a way to preserve the POST information across RewriteRules? or is something else going on here (like the SessionFile being tied to an IP:port pair?

In reply to Apache::Session::File and mod_rewrite by geektron

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