Httpd/Apache. PHP. mod_rewrite. Fedora 17
Edit your httpd.conf (by default it lies in /etc/httpd/conf/)
Change option AllowOverride None to AllowOverride All
After that restart your Apache server.
You can test your rewrite engine by some simple redirect:
Options +FollowSymLinksRewriteEngine OnRewriteRule (.*) http://stackoverflow.com