<div class="note"><h3>Note</h3>
- <p>When explicit directives such as
- <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/core.html#sethandler">SetHandler</a></code> or
- <code class="directive"><a href="#addhandler">AddHandler</a></code> do not apply
+ <p>If no handler is explicitly set for a request, the specified content
+ type will also be used as the handler name. </p>
+
+ <p>When explicit directives such as
+ <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/core.html#sethandler">SetHandler</a></code> or
+ <code class="directive"><a href="#addhandler">AddHandler</a></code> do not apply
to the current request, the internal handler name normally set by those
- directives is set to match the content type specified by this directive.
- This is a historical behavior that some third-party modules
- (such as mod_php) may use "magic" content types used only to signal the
- module to take responsibility for the matching request. Configurations
- that rely on such "magic" types should be avoided by the use of
- <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/core.html#sethandler">SetHandler</a></code> or
- <code class="directive"><a href="#addhandler">AddHandler</a></code>. </p>
+ directives is instead set to the content type specified by this directive.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This is a historical behavior that may be used by some third-party modules
+ (such as mod_php) for taking responsibility for the matching request.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>Configurations that rely on such "synthetic" types should be avoided.
+ Additionally, configurations that restrict access to
+ <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/core.html#sethandler">SetHandler</a></code> or
+ <code class="directive"><a href="#addhandler">AddHandler</a></code> should
+ restrict access to this directive as well.</p>
</div>