I'm setting up some simple url rewriting rules using mod_rewrite and a .htacces file, but I've got some problems. If I set up the .htacces this way:

Options +FollowSymLinks

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /

RewriteRule /index.html /index.php [L]

when I call from the browser this url: http://localhost/~dave/mySite/index.html I got a 404 error.

Using this .htacces instead

Options +FollowSymLinks

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /

RewriteRule /index.html http://localhost/~dave/mySite/index.php [L]

everything works fine and I get the index.php page I'm expecting. Am I forced to user absolute urls as the target of a rewrite? Is this a Apache configuration problem?

I'm using Max OS X 10.6.2 with its standard Apache installation.