Multiple stores, dynamic domains problem

Question

In a new site, with multiple domains, I have a problem. First the several websites with their own store view:

shop.mydomain.org, code shop
retail.mydomain.org, code retail
*.mydomain.org, code base

The base_url for all these stores is set to {{base_url}} since the last one is dynamic. In a .htaccess file, the code is set, ie:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^shop.mydomain.*$
RewriteRule ^ - [E=MAGE_RUN_TYPE:website,E=MAGE_RUN_CODE:shop] [L]

When visiting ie shop.mydomain.org the first time after clearing the cache, everything works fine. The base_url is set to shop.mydomain.org. Without clearing the cache and continueing on shop.mydomain.org, the base_url is still okay.

Still without clearing the cache, when I visit retail.mydomain.org, there is a problem with the base_url. On this domain, the base_url is the same as for shop.mydomain.org, when I would expect it to change to retail.mydomain.org.

I know I can change the base_url in the configuration to shop.mydomain.org and retail.mydomain.org solving my problem for these 2 domains. But, the last domain (*.mydomain.org), can't be set to a specific base_url. All must work with a template in which an image is loaded based on the * part in the domain.

What I've tried:

In Mage_Core_Model_Store->getBaseUrl(), change line

$this->_baseUrlCache[$cacheKey] = rtrim($url, '/') . '/';

to

return rtrim($url, '/') . '/';

to prevent Magento from adding the url in cache.

And more or less the same in Mage_Core_Model_Website::getConfig(); don't store the config value in cache if the path contains 'url'.

Both options didn't work. Does someone have a solution?

Answer 1

You shouldn't use {{base_url}} as value for base url. It can lead to security issues.
Edit the configuration for each website from System->Configuration->Web and set the base url accordingly: http://shop.mydomain.org/, http://retail.mydomain.org/ and http://mydomain.org/.
Clear the cache and give it a go.
I don't think you need the last one to be dynamic. Or maybe I'm missing something.
If you insist on working with different URLs (dynamic) for one website, I think you will have a problem. For example most block cache files depend on the store id (for example the main menu), and if the cache is created with one URL when accessing with a different url you will get the cached data with the first URL.
Maybe you should rethink your business logic here.