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MainWP Child no longer ships a root .htaccess file in wp-content/plugins/mainwp-child/. This change was made for WordPress.org compliance and to avoid side effects from plugin-level rewrite rules.

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What Changed

  • Removed the plugin-bundled .htaccess file from the mainwp-child plugin root
  • Stopped shipping rewrite rules that point requests to a fake path
  • Kept standard protections already used by the plugin

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Why It Was Removed

  • WordPress.org plugin rules do not allow hidden or extra files like a root .htaccess file in plugin packages.
  • The previous rule relied on Apache with .htaccess processing enabled, so it did nothing on many Nginx or managed-host setups.
  • It was primarily footprint obfuscation and did not reliably prevent plugin fingerprinting.
  • It could block legitimate plugin assets now or in future releases.

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Security That Still Remains

  • PHP files are protected by ABSPATH (or equivalent) direct-access guards.
  • index.php files prevent directory listing output.
  • Adding index.php in the plugin root and key subfolders remains a safe, standard hardening step.

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Optional: Add the Previous Rule Manually

If you still want this behavior, add a .htaccess file yourself in: wp-content/plugins/mainwp-child/ Use the exact rules below: 
# BEGIN MainWP
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ \./THIS_PLUGIN_DOES_NOT_EXIST [QSA,L]
</IfModule>
# END MainWP

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Important Notes

  • This is optional and host-dependent (Apache only when .htaccess overrides are enabled).
  • For crawler control, use site-level robots.txt or server-level rules.
  • Google does not penalize sites simply for using the same plugin footprint.
  • Add the file manually via your hosting file manager, SFTP, or SSH.