pages and api routes return 404 + error "ressource not found"

Florian

we are trying to run flarum in a subdirectory at
https://chweb/computerhelp/cmstest/forum

the installation completes without errors and the forum frontend loads normally. the main page renders, forum.js initializes, and css, fonts and javascript files load successfully, which indicates that php execution, database connection and the flarum core installation itself are working.

however all api requests fail. requests such as

/forum/api/tags
/forum/api/token
/forum/api/...

return a plain apache 404 response instead of a flarum json response. this means the request never reaches the flarum router and apache attempts to resolve the path as a physical file instead of rewriting it to index.php.

opening the endpoint directly
https://chweb/computerhelp/cmstest/forum/api/tags
returns the standard apache error page “not found – the requested url was not found on this server (apache/2.4.52 ubuntu)”.

the forum homepage itself works and the following assets load correctly:

forum.css
forum.js
forum-en.js
font files

network inspection shows that the javascript application runs normally and triggers the api request for tags, but that request receives a 404 directly from apache.

this indicates that the rewrite rule that should forward /api/... requests to index.php is not being applied correctly even though the .htaccess file exists in the forum directory.

we verified the following:

the flarum installation runs without errors
the forum frontend loads correctly
php executes normally
database connection works
file permissions are correct
apache reads .htaccess files (tested by inserting invalid directives and observing server errors)
rewrite rules were replaced with the official flarum rules
the config.php url matches the actual forum url
the index.php file exists and loads correctly

we also tried both possible installation structures:

standard structure with the /public directory
no-public-dir structure where public files are moved into the forum root

in addition we manually cleared all generated data including:

storage/cache
storage/views
storage/formatter
storage/less
generated files in the assets directory

we also tested forcing rewrite rules for /api requests in the .htaccess file but the result remained the same: the request never reaches index.php and apache returns a direct 404.

this troubleshooting process was done over the course of a full day together with a programmer with about 45 years of experience and myself as a software development apprentice. we also followed several youtube tutorials and repeated the installation multiple times from scratch.

in summary:

the flarum installation succeeds
the frontend loads correctly
php execution works
the database connection works
static assets load normally
but every api endpoint returns a direct apache 404 because the request is not rewritten to index.php

has anyone experienced a similar issue with flarum api routes returning apache 404 in a subdirectory installation and does anyone perhaps have any ideas for possible solutions?

Tutrix

Florian we are trying to run flarum in a subdirectory at
https://chweb/computerhelp/cmstest/forum

Isn't the .ch missing from the link?

Shouldn't it look like this:

https://chweb.ch/computerhelp/cmstest/forum

Even if the forum isn't there

Or subdomain looks like this

https://forum.chweb.ch/computerhelp/cmstest/

Florian

Tutrix Isn't the .ch missing from the link?

thank you for the suggestion.

this is actually an internal network address, so the domain structure is a bit unusual and does not use a public domain like .ch. the url you see is correct inside our internal environment.

all other links and pages on that server work normally. we already built and run a fully functioning cms on this system under the same structure, and everything outside the forum works without any issues.

thanks again for the idea and for taking the time to look into it!

GreXXL

Florian did you follow the instructions when customizing the path: Installation | Flarum Documentation ?

clarkwinkelmann

Is the Apache rewrite module actually enabled? Have you tried removing the <IfModule mod_rewrite.c> condition block in .htaccess and see if the valid code within throws an error?

Florian

GreXXL Oh, we probably forgot that! We will check it later. Thank you very much for the tip!

Florian

clarkwinkelmann I just tried that, but it does not change the situation. I still get the Apache 404 message and “resource not found” for the administration page.

Florian

I dont know if this is important;

Florian

GreXXL I just tried it, but unfortunately everything was already set exactly as described in the instructions. We need PHP 7.4, so I assume there are no known bugs or similar issues for this version?

GreXXL

Florian I don't think the issues you are facing are connected to PHP 7.4 (we recommend using PHP 8.3 by the way). As we don't know exactly how you have setup your webserver it's hard to guide you to the right direction. There is no known issue with installing without a public directory. What you can do is try get Flarum running locally without the subdirectory installation to see if it works fine on your infrastrucutre and then start from there.

clarkwinkelmann

Another thing to check... Are you using the official .htaccess file? flarum/flarumblob/v1.8.1/public/.htaccess

Very old Flarum guides might still contain references to the 1.x beta era at a time when /api/* was proxied to api.php and /admin/* to admin.php. This was all replaced with a single rewrite to index.php well before Flarum 1.0, but a few years ago we still occasionally faced people copying code from outdated guides.

You should also try other rewrite rules to see whether your server handles them at all. Do the included protected storage rules work (assuming the storage folder is indeed there)? Are you able to create a custom hard-coded redirect? Are you able to map a single URL (like /admin) to index.php without any wildcard in the definition?

Something else that I remember, but I think I had this issue primarily with nginx. If I had Wordpress at the root and Flarum in a subfolder, I had to modify Wordpress rewrite rules because it would try to handle every single request including for the Flarum subfolder! A similar issue could exist with Apache depending on the other rewrite rules in top-level htaccess or within the virtualhost config.

Florian

clarkwinkelmann I think I have to change some pathes in .htacess, right? I just copied it in and there were many issues;

Florian

ah, I just noticed I called "mydomain/forum/index.php" and not "mydomain/forum" - but sadly its still not working

Florian

we just upgraded our programm to php 8.3 - we will try a new installation. Should we use a public folder or shouldnt we?

GreXXL

Florian the recommended way to install Flarum is with a public folder and pointing your document root to this folder. Secures the rest of your files the best way.

Florian

I made a reinstall, this time with php 8.3. I sadly still get the same errormessage. In fact; we even changed the server... I followed this toutorial; is this uptodate?

Florian

If you don’t have time for that, absolutely understandable! I simply excluded all CMS folders here from the final folders: https://we.tl/t-54iPLRgbba

GreXXL

Florian I am not aware of this tuturial. It's not something created by us. The easiest and most friciton-less install method is using composer. The documentation is within our docs: https://docs.flarum.org/install/#installing-using-the-command-line-interface

Florian

GreXXL we already tried this to. Im slowly getting to a point, where I dont know what to do. The other dev alr tried it with another forum. The other forum is so old... hopefully it dosent works

(ofc we made the apache part in the documentation)

luceos

Florian, if the issue in the OP ( Florian ) is still occurring this is 500% a url rewrite issue with the server. An easy way to test what is enabled by making a php file in your public directory with these contents:

info.php

<?php
phpinfo();

Save it and open it from your URL. Feel free to post it here or send it to me privately (mail in profile). It should mention something under apache2handler or similar. It's a good start to debug this problem.