At itoctopus, we love doing things in different ways, this helps us broaden our horizon and it also allows us to provide several alternative solutions for our readers, who may prefer one method over another.
In a previous post, we have discussed, in details, 2 methods for hiding the Joomla version. The first one consisted of modifying a core file (which we don’t usually recommend), and the second one consisted of just modifying the template file.
In this post, we will explain a third method to do that, and it is through the .htaccess file. Yessiree Bob, you heard that right, the only change that you will need to make in order to remove the Joomla meta generator tag is through the .htaccess file.
So, how is it done?
Well, there is this little Apache module called mod_substitute (note: Apache modules are not the same as Joomla modules – Apache modules, if you really want to know more about them, work more or less in the same way as Joomla plugins), which (unsurprisingly) allows the substitution of one pattern with another in the served HTML page. So, to replace the Joomla meta generator tag on the website, all we need to do is to add the following lines to the beginning of the .htaccess file:
<IfModule mod_substitute.c> AddOutputFilterByType SUBSTITUTE text/html Substitute "s|<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"Joomla! - Open Source Content Management\" />||i" </IfModule>
That’s it!
What if it doesn’t work?
If it doesn’t work, then most likely you don’t have the mod_substitute Apache module installed and/or enabled on your server. This can be quickly verified by using one of the following methods:
- Issue the following command in the Linux shell:
httpd -M | grep 'substitute'If you get an empty result, then you don’t have mod_substitute installed.
-
Remove the first line and the last line from the .htaccess code above (only if you are running on a development server), and your website should display a 500 error. Additionally, you will see the following entry in your Apache error log (/usr/local/apache/logs/error_log in a WHM/cPanel instance): Unknown filter provider SUBSTITUTE.
Once you confirm that you don’t have mod_substitute installed, then you can talk to your system administrator about it and he should be able to sort it out for you.
Are there any other uses of mod_substitute?
There are. In fact, it is mostly used to append some JavaScript tracking code to the end of the served page. This is very practical for a system administrator who’s asked to add some tracking code to a Joomla website, but who doesn’t know how to work with it (with the Joomla website).
Are there any disadvantages of using mod_substitute?
Aside from a slight-to-negligible performance hit, there are no technical disadvantages for using mod_substitute. There are, however, some reservations. For example, when you use mod_substitute, you are transferring some of the logic on your website to the .htaccess file, which is not good. You will also make the process of maintaining your website confusing. If you want our opinion, then while we think that mod_substitute is a wow feature (there are only a few people out there who know that you can replace the HTML on a page using .htaccess), we think it should be used only when it’s really needed, and not because of its mystique.
If you think that this whole thing is a bit over your head and you need help with the implementation, then we’re here to help! Just contact us and we’ll implement the above for you swiftly, professionally, and for very little money!