[users@httpd] Path_info vs. Request_uri Environment Variables

[Roger Haase <ha...@gmail.com>]

I have been unable to find any documentation that clearly states the
difference between the path_info and request_uri environment variables.
The cgi specs at
   http://cgi-spec.golux.com/draft-coar-cgi-v11-03-clean.html
define the path_info variable but do not mention request_uri.  The brief
references I found related to Apache describe path_info as "extra" path
information and describe request_uri similar to the cgi definition of
path_info.  In the few instances where I dumped the output, the two
variables seem to be the same.

But I have found that if a uri is changed with a rewite command, the
request_uri contains the original browser path and the path_info contains
the changed path.

I am trying to debug a situation that uses a rewrite command to retrieve a
MoinMoin based page. MoinMoin is using the request_uri variable resulting in
a missing page response.   It looks like the fix to this problem is to just
use path_info instead of request_uri, but I an concerned about other
side-effects.

Any advise on the location of more documentation or the difference in values
of these two variables?

Roger Haase