Kahlid- I wrote that page, so I think the answer is a guarded 'yes.' We did find some odd behavior when we turned the patch on, which is noted in the Handbook page: -- WARNING -- There is a known issue that occurs if you block .png files with this method. It affects the system_test() function in system.module, which relies on a phantom .png call to the directory '/system/test/'. ---- There may be other bugs caused by our original patch, so I think more testing (especially on 4.7, since the patch was put in place for 4.6) is definitely needed. To make debugging easier, I have opened http://drupal.org/node/76928 and attached the .htaccess file that we currently use. I also had to modify function system_view_general() in system.module to hard-code clean url settings, since the .htaccess rules broke Drupal's clean_url checker. - Ken Rickard agentrickard Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 23:13:38 -0400 From: "Khalid B" <kb@2bits.com> Subject: [development] .htaccess patch for 404 of Non-drupal files To: development@drupal.org Message-ID: <4a9fdc630608022013k5b15ae14kdf2fc0195911e510@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed It is worth including the change in this page http://drupal.org/node/56773 to the standard .htaccess we distribute? This has two advantages: a) Avoid a Drupal bootstrap for every 404 of these files. b) Send a smaller number of bytes when this happen. I believe the majority of sites would not want Drupal to handle 404 for these files. I can make the patch if it has a chance of getting through.