Question

In my .htaccess file, I use variables (SetEnv) to toggle ON/OFF the website when I do updates, is it safe or is it even possible to modify that .htaccess file via a PHP script ?

To be more specific, I need to comment/un-comment those lines:

#RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} !LOCALIPHERE
#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/Site/maintenance.htm
#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/Site/styles/style.css
#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/Site/includes/jquery-1.4.4.min.js
#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !\.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|swf)$
#RewriteRule ^.* /Site/maintenance.htm [L]

Thank you

Edit:

My definition of safe is: I would like to know how the site will behave if the .htaccess file is opened by a PHP script and the website is being visited in the same time.

Answer 1

If the file is writable by the PHP process it can be modified like every other file.

However, instead of commenting/uncommenting your code you should use a RewriteCond checking your env var.