.htaccess Tweaks: Automatic GZIP Compression

[jaswrks]

Next Actions

• 1. New file in this directory with the name: gzip-enable.txt

  Note: This requires Apache v2.1+

  # GZIP compression.
  
  <IfModule deflate_module>
    <IfModule filter_module>
      AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/plain text/html
      AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/xml application/xml application/xhtml+xml application/xml-dtd
      AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/rdf+xml application/rss+xml application/atom+xml image/svg+xml
      AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/css text/javascript application/javascript application/x-javascript
      AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/opentype application/font-otf application/x-font-otf
      AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/truetype application/font-ttf application/x-font-ttf
      <IfModule headers_module>
        <FilesMatch \.(?:js|css|xml|svg|xhtml|html|txt|ttf|otf|gz)$>
          Header append vary: accept-encoding
        </FilesMatch>
      </IfModule>
    </IfModule>
  </IfModule>

  Referencing: WUBS config file.

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• 2. After this line add the following:

  case 'gzip-enable.txt':
      if ($this->options['htaccess_gzip_enable']) {
          $template_blocks .= trim(file_get_contents($templates_dir.'/'.$_template_file))."\n";
      } // Only if GZIP is enabled via .htaccess at this time.
      break;

---

• 3. New option key in this list after a blank link to start a new section.

  'htaccess_gzip_enable',

---

• 4. New option key in this list also.

  /* Related to .htaccess tweaks. */
  
  'htaccess_gzip_enable' => '1', // `0|1`; enable GZIP via .htaccess?
  

---

• 5. New UI option panel for .htaccess Tweaks (pro version only) and it should include details about this option. The option value can be either 0 (off) or 1 (on) with 1 being the default behavior.

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Before Beginning Work ...

• Check with @raamdev to see if the above outline is suitable; i.e., if this in fact going to be a pro-only feature. If so, the option panel in step 5 should provide a pro preview. If it's going to be available in both the lite and pro versions, you can skip over step 3 and step 5 can be implemented in a way that exposes this option to users of both the lite and pro version.

[jaswrks]

Noting that the UI panel should be titled, Apache Optimization. See: #554 (comment)

[raamdev]

Noting that this feature should be disabled by default. We should not be updating the .htaccess unless the site owner tells Comet Cache it should be doing so.

Apache Optimization should be a Pro-only feature, yes.

Otherwise the outline looks good to me.

[jaswrks]

Noting that we should remove this section as it is unnecessary.
The deflate module does this automatically in a more effective way.

<IfModule headers_module>
      <FilesMatch \.(?:js|css|xml|svg|xhtml|html|txt|ttf|otf|gz)$>
        Header append vary: accept-encoding
      </FilesMatch>
    </IfModule>

[raamdev]

Next Release Changelog:

• New Feature! A new "Enable GZIP Compression" option has been added to the new Apache Optimizations panel. This option will automatically add the appropriate configuration to your .htaccess file to enable GZIP compression. This option is disabled by default. The old "GZIP Compression" panel has been removed in favor of the new option inside Apache Optimizations. Props @renzms, @jaswsinc. See Issue #764.

[GermontZ]

I have a few huge posts, e.g. 45 A4 pages, or even more. Do you think there will be a problem if these posts will be gzipped on the fly for every page load? I'm thinking about increased load time.
I think I've seen a few plugins that stores already gzipped cache files.
Maybe it would be a good ideea for Comet Cache? Thanks!

EDIT: I suppose that gzipping on the fly does matter if the posts become viral on social networks or whatever.

[raamdev]

Comet Cache v160706 has been released and includes changes from this GitHub Issue. See the v160706 announcement for further details.

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This issue will now be locked to further updates. If you have something to add related to this GitHub Issue, please open a new GitHub Issue and reference this one (#764).