How can I prevent WordPress and plugins from overwriting my .htaccess file? I use WordPress to set the structure of my permalinks; so I doubt it is practical to deny all permissions to the file.
If it is unlikely that WordPress is responsible for overwriting the file, advice on determining what is responsible would be helpful.
I recently added these rules to .htaccess to redirect traffic to HTTPS.
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule (.*) https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]
One day later, I found that .htaccess had reverted to its previous state. Following is a portion of the .htaccess file as I intend it.
# BEGIN W3TC Page Cache core
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule (.*) https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} =on
RewriteRule .* - [E=W3TC_SSL:_ssl]
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} =443
RewriteRule .* - [E=W3TC_SSL:_ssl]
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-Encoding} gzip
RewriteRule .* - [E=W3TC_ENC:_gzip]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} w3tc_preview [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [E=W3TC_PREVIEW:_preview]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !=POST
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} =""
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} /$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} !(comment_author|wp-postpass|w3tc_logged_out|wordpress_logged_in|wptouch_switch_toggle) [NC]
RewriteCond "%{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/wp-content/cache/page_enhanced/%{HTTP_HOST}/%{REQUEST_URI}/_index%{ENV:W3TC_SSL}%{ENV:W3TC_PREVIEW}.html%{ENV:W3TC_ENC}" -f
RewriteRule .* "/wp-content/cache/page_enhanced/%{HTTP_HOST}/%{REQUEST_URI}/_index%{ENV:W3TC_SSL}%{ENV:W3TC_PREVIEW}.html%{ENV:W3TC_ENC}" [L]
</IfModule>
# END W3TC Page Cache core
This code redirects traffic with a status of 301 as expected, until the .htaccess file is overwritten.
–Update–
By placing comments in several sections of the .htaccess file and observing which one was overwritten, I found that plugin W3 Total Cache overwrote the entirety of the section commented with
# BEGIN W3TC Page Cache core