Relative Destination looks OK but gets a 404

I’m reimplementing a handcrafted website with a WordPress site. I’d like to use Quick Page/Post Redirect to map all old URLs to WP URLs.

I’m implementing the WP site on a new hosting service. Before I throw the DNS switch, I’m using an explicit IP address to view the new site. For example, using a dummy IP address:

http://12.345.67.114/~acctname/

I used Quick 301 Redirects to create a redirect:

/mission.htm --> http://12.345.67.114/~acctname/about-us/mission/

When the destination is a full URL, the redirect works perfectly.

However, I’d like to use a relative destination URL like this:

/mission.htm --> /about-us/mission/

When I give my browser “http://12.345.67.114/mission.htm”, the correct redirection URL appears briefly, followed by a 404 page from the hosting service.

I’d really like to use relative destination URLs so that (1) I can test redirection as I’m constructing the new WP site, and (2) the destination URLs will work without change when the WP site goes live.

— Ward

http://wordpress.org/plugins/quick-pagepost-redirect-plugin/