Lighttpd

lighttpd-1.4.22 (ubuntu)

i want to redirect all requests to www.xxx.com/media to /some/abs/path
is this what alias.url is for? i cant make it out from the docs which, in part, explain its functionality like this:

"/content_x1/" is mapped to "/dirtocontent/_x1", "/content/" -> "/dirtocontent/" and "/content/somefile" -> "/dirtocontent//somefile" (yes, double slash).

i'll hold myself back and just say i dont get it.

ignoring that, im assuming it has similar functionality to apache aliases.

heres my host:

$HTTP["host"] == "www.clearerspace.com" {
    #server.document-root = "/.domains/clearerspace.com/www/" 
    fastcgi.server = (
        "/clearerspace.fcgi" => (
            "main" => (
                "socket" => "/home/x/business/clearerspace/root/.domains/clearerspace.com/www/clearerspace.sock",
                "check-local" => "disable",
            )
        ),
    )

    alias.url = ("/media" => "/home/x/business/clearerspace/root/.domains/clearerspace.com/www/public/")

    url.rewrite-once = (
        "^(/media.*)$" => "$1",
        "^/favicon\.ico$" => "/media/favicon.ico",
        "^(/.*)$" => "/clearerspace.fcgi$1",
    )
}

i also have this (among other things) in the main config:

server.modules              = (
            "mod_access",
            "mod_alias",
            "mod_redirect",
            "mod_compress",
            "mod_evhost",
            "mod_rewrite",
            "mod_fastcgi",
            "mod_accesslog",
)

var.basedir = "/home/x/business/clearerspace/root" 
server.document-root = basedir

i have tried countless variations. only setting the doc-root in vhost and viceversa.

everything else works great. but no alias media=>public

heres some output from debug.log-request-handling = "enable"

2010-02-14 23:26:48: (log.c.97) server started 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.221) -- splitting Request-URI 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.222) Request-URI  :  /media/index.html 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.223) URI-scheme   :  http 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.224) URI-authority:  www.clearerspace.com 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.225) URI-path     :  /media/index.html 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.226) URI-query    :   
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.221) -- splitting Request-URI 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.222) Request-URI  :  /media/index.html 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.223) URI-scheme   :  http 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.224) URI-authority:  www.clearerspace.com 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.225) URI-path     :  /media/index.html 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.226) URI-query    :   
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.276) -- sanatising URI 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.277) URI-path     :  /media/index.html 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (mod_access.c.135) -- mod_access_uri_handler called 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.391) -- before doc_root 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.392) Doc-Root     : /home/x/business/clearerspace/root 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.393) Rel-Path     : /media/index.html 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.394) Path         :  
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.442) -- after doc_root 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.443) Doc-Root     : /home/x/business/clearerspace/root/.domains/clearerspace.com/www/ 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.444) Rel-Path     : /media/index.html 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.445) Path         : /home/x/business/clearerspace/root/.domains/clearerspace.com/www/media/index.html 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.462) -- logical -> physical 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.463) Doc-Root     : /home/x/business/clearerspace/root/.domains/clearerspace.com/www/ 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.464) Rel-Path     : /media/index.html 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.465) Path         : /home/x/business/clearerspace/root/.domains/clearerspace.com/www/media/index.html 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.482) -- handling physical path 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.483) Path         : /home/x/business/clearerspace/root/.domains/clearerspace.com/www/media/index.html 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.539) -- file not found 
2010-02-14 23:26:55: (response.c.540) Path         : /home/x/business/clearerspace/root/.domains/clearerspace.com/www/media/index.html