Meh, finished my half-written-out thought in a FIXME in Special:Log code.
# Used for testing mod_rewrite.
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule (.*) install.php?do=modrewrite_test&str=$1
</IfModule>