Using '/profiles' in a URL alias The path '/profiles' exists as a physical folder in the root of a Drupal install, which means adding a URL alias for a piece of content to '/profiles' will not work - a 403 error is the result.

Lucky 'ol me, for a particular project I have an SEO partner telling me that using that particular path is an absolute, categorical must; not having this would be proof that the Myan's doomsday prediction is in fact accurate, we'll all die slowly, etc., etc.

So I'm going to go ahead and throw this slightly ridiculous question out to the masses to see if anyone's found a creative way to solve this problem before...

How can I use '/profiles' (and '/profiles/*', etc.) as URL aliases, while maintaining a fully functional, update-able Drupal instance?

Importantly, we're using the Global Redirect module, with the 'De-slash' and 'Non-clean to clean' options enabled (and they need to stay that way).
1) .htaccess (before line 100):

RewriteRule ^profiles($|/(.*)) /index.php [L]


2) VirtualHost (for de-slash setting):

&lt;Location /profiles&gt;
     DirectorySlash Off
&lt;/Location&gt;


Second part is needed only if you use Global Redirect "de-slash".