Category: geek stuff

When hosting multiple projects on a single Apache server, you may want to redirect visitors from your root domain to a specific subdirectory while keeping other projects intact. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to:

✅ Prevent direct access to the server’s root directory
✅ Redirect all traffic from example.com to example.com/blog
✅ Ensure redirection works over both HTTP and HTTPS

1. Understanding the Directory Structure

Let’s say our server’s web directory is located at:

/var/www/html/

Inside this directory, we have multiple projects:

/var/www/html/blog # WordPress or any main site /var/www/html/app1 # Another application /var/www/html/app2 # Another project

We want anyone visiting example.com or 192.168.1.100 (the server’s public IP) to be automatically redirected to example.com/blog, while keeping other projects untouched.

2. Prevent Direct Access to /var/www/html

To prevent directory listing or direct access to /var/www/html, create or edit the .htaccess file in /var/www/html/:

nano /var/www/html/.htaccess

Add the following rules:

# Disable directory listing
Options -Indexes

# Redirect root domain to /blog
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/$
RewriteRule ^$ /blog/ [R=301,L]

This ensures:
✅ No one can list the contents of /var/www/html
✅ Visitors accessing example.com or 192.168.1.100 will be redirected to /blog/

3. Configure Apache for HTTP Redirection

Now, let’s modify Apache’s configuration for HTTP (port 80) requests.

Edit the default virtual host file

nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

Replace the contents with:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin webmaster@example.com
    ServerName example.com
    ServerAlias www.example.com 192.168.1.100

    DocumentRoot /var/www/html

    # Redirect root domain to /blog
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/$
    RewriteRule ^$ /blog/ [R=301,L]

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

4. Configure Apache for HTTPS Redirection

If you have an SSL certificate installed, you must also configure the HTTPS (port 443) settings.

Edit your SSL virtual host configuration

nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/example-ssl.conf

Modify the <VirtualHost *:443> block as follows:

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerAdmin admin@example.com
    ServerName example.com
    ServerAlias www.example.com

    DocumentRoot /var/www/html

    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem

    # Redirect root domain to /blog
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/$
    RewriteRule ^$ /blog/ [R=301,L]

    <Directory /var/www/html>
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

This ensures that both HTTP and HTTPS traffic are redirected correctly.

5. Enable Apache Modules & Restart Apache

Make sure mod_rewrite is enabled:

a2enmod rewrite
systemctl restart apache2

Now, restart Apache to apply the changes:

systemctl restart apache2

6. Verify the Redirection

After applying the changes, visit the following:

✅ http://example.com → Redirects to http://example.com/blog
✅ https://example.com → Redirects to https://example.com/blog
✅ http://192.168.1.100 → Redirects to http://192.168.1.100/blog
✅ https://192.168.1.100 → Redirects to https://192.168.1.100/blog

7. Clear Cache if Redirection Doesn’t Work

If the redirection doesn’t take effect immediately, try:

systemctl restart apache2

Final Thoughts

With this setup, your visitors will always land on example.com/blog when accessing your root domain while keeping other projects in /var/www/html untouched.

Introduction

If you’ve used ShareX for taking screenshots and uploading them, you might have noticed a big privacy concern—many image hosts (like Imgur) are public by default, and anyone with the link can access your images.

But what if you could host your own image uploads securely, with full control, right from your Linux system?

This guide will walk you through setting up Flameshot + VPS for private image uploads, so you get ShareX-like functionality but with total privacy.


🔹 What You’ll Need

Before we start, make sure you have:

✅ Linux Mint (or any Linux distro) – We’re using Linux Mint Cinnamon for this guide.
✅ Flameshot – A powerful screenshot tool.
✅ A VPS (Virtual Private Server) – To store your images privately.
✅ Basic command-line knowledge – To set up the script.

🔹 Step 1: Setting Up Your VPS for Image Uploads

Since we want full control, we’ll store our screenshots on a VPS instead of Imgur.

🔹 Step 1: Setting Up Your VPS for Image Uploads

Since we want full control, we’ll store our screenshots on a VPS instead of Imgur.

1️⃣ Create an Upload Directory

SSH into your VPS and create a folder for uploads:

mkdir -p /var/www/html/screenshot/public
chmod -R 775 /var/www/html/screenshot/public
chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/screenshot/public

2️⃣ Create the PHP Upload Script

Create a file upload.php inside /var/www/html/screenshot/:

<?php
$address = "http://your-vps-ip/screenshot/public/";
$secret_key = "YOUR_SECRET_KEY"; // Change this to a strong password

if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] === 'POST' && isset($_FILES['image']) && isset($_POST['key'])) {
    if ($_POST['key'] !== $secret_key) {
        die("Unauthorized.");
    }

    $uploadDir = __DIR__ . "/public/";
    $extension = pathinfo($_FILES['image']['name'], PATHINFO_EXTENSION);
    if (!$extension) $extension = "png";

    $fileName = time() . "_" . uniqid() . "." . $extension;
    $targetPath = $uploadDir . $fileName;

    if (move_uploaded_file($_FILES['image']['tmp_name'], $targetPath)) {
        echo "$address$fileName";
    } else {
        echo "Upload failed.";
    }
} else {
    echo "Invalid request.";
}
?>

3️⃣ Test the Upload Script

On your local machine, try uploading a test image:

curl -F "image=@screenshot.png" -F "key=YOUR_SECRET_KEY" http://your-vps-ip/screenshot/upload.php

If it returns a URL, you’re all set! 🎉

🔹 Step 2: Automating Flameshot to Upload Screenshots

Now, let’s configure Flameshot to automatically upload screenshots to our VPS and copy the link to the clipboard.

1️⃣ Create the Upload Script

Create a new script:

nano ~/flameshot_upload.sh

Paste the following:

#!/bin/bash

# Capture screenshot and upload to VPS
URL=$(flameshot gui -r | curl -s -F "image=@-" -F "key=YOUR_SECRET_KEY" http://your-vps-ip/screenshot/upload.php)

# Copy the URL to clipboard and notify the user
if [[ $URL == *"http"* ]]; then
    echo -n "$URL" | xclip -selection clipboard  # Use wl-copy if on Wayland
    notify-send "Upload Complete" "URL copied: $URL"
else
    notify-send "Upload Failed" "$URL"
fi

Save and make it executable:

chmod +x ~/flameshot_upload.sh

Now, running ~/flameshot_upload.sh will: ✅ Let you select an area with Flameshot.
✅ Upload the screenshot to your VPS.
✅ Copy the URL to your clipboard.
✅ Show a desktop notification when done.

🔹 Step 3: Creating a Custom Keyboard Shortcut

To make this process seamless, let’s bind it to a hotkey (Win + Shift + U) in Linux Mint Cinnamon.

1️⃣ Open Keyboard Shortcuts in Cinnamon

• Open “System Settings” → “Keyboard” → “Shortcuts”
• Click “Add custom shortcut”
• Name: Flameshot Auto-Upload
• Command: ~/flameshot_upload.sh
• Click “Add”

2️⃣ Assign a Keyboard Shortcut

• Find Flameshot Auto-Upload in the list.
• Click “Unassigned” and press Win + Shift + U.
• Click “Apply”.

✅ Now, pressing Win + Shift + U will:

• Open Flameshot to select an area.
• Upload the screenshot to your VPS.
• Copy the image URL automatically.
• Notify you when the upload is done.

🔥 No need to manually open the terminal anymore! 🔥

🔹 Final Thoughts

Now you have a fully private, self-hosted image uploader that replaces ShareX!

🚀 Now, every time you screenshot, your image is privately stored and instantly copied to your clipboard!