Automatic LESS compilation using mod_rewrite and lessphp
I have been using LESS (and before SCSS) and I enjoy it, but I have to admit that I was spoiled by Symfony, Twig and Assetic that compile them automatically and I am really not looking forward to compile all my assets. I could use an application that watches a directory and compiles them on the fly, but there’s none that works on all OS and you still have to fire them up and configure them each time you start a project or reboot your computer.
Using lessphp, I made a simple script that will compile your LESS files, do some caching, gzip, etc.
It works by checking that a .css file exists. If not, it checks if the corresponding .less exists. If so, it fires up lessphp.
It is not perfect, but is worth using on simple projects.
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# .htaccess
# LESS compiler
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} ^(.*)\.css
RewriteCond %1.less -f
RewriteRule ^(.*)\.css lessphp/less.php?f=$1.less
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<?php
// less.php
/**
* Automatically compile LESS files
*
* Features:
* - Uses the system temp directory to ensure it is writable
* - Gzip compression
* - Compile only if not modified
* - Respect If-Modified-Since header
* - @todo Add caching for gzipped version
* - @todo Add caching header
*
* Installation:
* 1. Download lessphp and extract to $DOCUMENT_ROOT/lessphp
* @link http://leafo.net/lessphp/
*
* 2. Add this script in the lessphp directory
*
* 3.1. Add RewriteRule in htaccess
* RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
* RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} ^(.*)\.css
* RewriteCond %1.less -f
* RewriteRule ^(.*)\.css lessphp/less.php?f=$1.less
*
* 3.2. If htaccess is not possible, replace CSS links from
* /css/style.less
* to
* /lessphp/less.php?f=css/style.less
*
*
* @link https://gist.github.com/4127137
*/
if (empty($_GET['f']) || !preg_match('/\.less$/', $_GET['f'])) {
header('HTTP/1.0 400 Bad Request');
die();
}
$cache_dir = sys_get_temp_dir() . '/lessphp/' . $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME']; // will store files in /tmp/lessphp/example.com/css/style.css
$doc_root = dirname(dirname(__FILE__));
$less_file = "$doc_root/{$_GET['f']}";
$css_file = $cache_dir . '/' . preg_replace('/\.less/', '.css', $_GET['f']);
$enable_gzip = !empty($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING']) && in_array('gzip', explode(',', $_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING']));
if (!is_file($less_file)) {
header('HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found');
die();
}
if (!is_dir(dirname($css_file))) {
mkdir(dirname($css_file), 0755, true);
}
require 'lessc.inc.php';
$less = new lessc;
$less->setFormatter("compressed");
try {
// Compiles only if $less_file mtime != $css_file mtime
$less->checkedCompile($less_file, $css_file);
} catch (Exception $e) {
header('HTTP/1.0 500 Internal Server Error');
echo $e->getMessage();
die();
}
$fp = fopen($css_file, 'r');
$stat = fstat($fp);
if (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_IF_MODIFIED_SINCE']) && strtotime($_SERVER['HTTP_IF_MODIFIED_SINCE']) >= $stat['mtime']) {
header('HTTP/1.0 304 Not Modified');
} else {
header('Cache-Control: must-revalidate');
header('Content-Type: text/css; charset=utf-8');
header('Last-Modified: ' . gmdate('D, d M Y H:i:s', $stat['mtime']) . ' GMT');
if ($enable_gzip) {
header('Content-Encoding: gzip');
ob_start("ob_gzhandler");
}
fpassthru($fp);
}
fclose($fp);