[RESOLVED] Unable to move dev directory for Apache, keep getting 403

Question

Hello,
I'd like to move my default /srv/http directory for my PHP pages to a different location (somewhere in my home directory) for convenience.  This is exclusively for local development.  However, after making the same change in two places, I restarted Apache and keep getting a 403 error.
Here is my httpd.conf:
# This is the main Apache HTTP server configuration file. It contains the
# configuration directives that give the server its instructions.
# See <URL:http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2> for detailed information.
# In particular, see
# <URL:http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/directives.html>
# for a discussion of each configuration directive.
# Do NOT simply read the instructions in here without understanding
# what they do. They're here only as hints or reminders. If you are unsure
# consult the online docs. You have been warned.
# Configuration and logfile names: If the filenames you specify for many
# of the server's control files begin with "/" (or "drive:/" for Win32), the
# server will use that explicit path. If the filenames do *not* begin
# with "/", the value of ServerRoot is prepended -- so 'log/access_log'
# with ServerRoot set to '/www' will be interpreted by the
# server as '/www/log/access_log', where as '/log/access_log' will be
# interpreted as '/log/access_log'.
# ServerRoot: The top of the directory tree under which the server's
# configuration, error, and log files are kept.
# Do not add a slash at the end of the directory path. If you point
# ServerRoot at a non-local disk, be sure to point the LockFile directive
# at a local disk. If you wish to share the same ServerRoot for multiple
# httpd daemons, you will need to change at least LockFile and PidFile.
ServerRoot "/etc/httpd"
# Listen: Allows you to bind Apache to specific IP addresses and/or
# ports, instead of the default. See also the <VirtualHost>
# directive.
# Change this to Listen on specific IP addresses as shown below to
# prevent Apache from glomming onto all bound IP addresses.
#Listen 12.34.56.78:80
Listen 127.0.0.1:80
# Dynamic Shared Object (DSO) Support
# To be able to use the functionality of a module which was built as a DSO you
# have to place corresponding `LoadModule' lines at this location so the
# directives contained in it are actually available _before_ they are used.
# Statically compiled modules (those listed by `httpd -l') do not need
# to be loaded here.
# Example:
# LoadModule foo_module modules/mod_foo.so
LoadModule authn_file_module modules/mod_authn_file.so
LoadModule authn_dbm_module modules/mod_authn_dbm.so
LoadModule authn_anon_module modules/mod_authn_anon.so
LoadModule authn_dbd_module modules/mod_authn_dbd.so
LoadModule authn_default_module modules/mod_authn_default.so
LoadModule authz_host_module modules/mod_authz_host.so
LoadModule authz_groupfile_module modules/mod_authz_groupfile.so
LoadModule authz_user_module modules/mod_authz_user.so
LoadModule authz_dbm_module modules/mod_authz_dbm.so
LoadModule authz_owner_module modules/mod_authz_owner.so
LoadModule authnz_ldap_module modules/mod_authnz_ldap.so
LoadModule authz_default_module modules/mod_authz_default.so
LoadModule auth_basic_module modules/mod_auth_basic.so
LoadModule auth_digest_module modules/mod_auth_digest.so
LoadModule file_cache_module modules/mod_file_cache.so
LoadModule cache_module modules/mod_cache.so
LoadModule disk_cache_module modules/mod_disk_cache.so
LoadModule mem_cache_module modules/mod_mem_cache.so
LoadModule dbd_module modules/mod_dbd.so
LoadModule dumpio_module modules/mod_dumpio.so
LoadModule reqtimeout_module modules/mod_reqtimeout.so
LoadModule ext_filter_module modules/mod_ext_filter.so
LoadModule include_module modules/mod_include.so
LoadModule filter_module modules/mod_filter.so
LoadModule substitute_module modules/mod_substitute.so
LoadModule deflate_module modules/mod_deflate.so
LoadModule ldap_module modules/mod_ldap.so
LoadModule log_config_module modules/mod_log_config.so
LoadModule log_forensic_module modules/mod_log_forensic.so
LoadModule logio_module modules/mod_logio.so
LoadModule env_module modules/mod_env.so
LoadModule mime_magic_module modules/mod_mime_magic.so
LoadModule cern_meta_module modules/mod_cern_meta.so
LoadModule expires_module modules/mod_expires.so
LoadModule headers_module modules/mod_headers.so
LoadModule ident_module modules/mod_ident.so
LoadModule usertrack_module modules/mod_usertrack.so
LoadModule unique_id_module modules/mod_unique_id.so
LoadModule setenvif_module modules/mod_setenvif.so
LoadModule version_module modules/mod_version.so
LoadModule proxy_module modules/mod_proxy.so
LoadModule proxy_connect_module modules/mod_proxy_connect.so
LoadModule proxy_ftp_module modules/mod_proxy_ftp.so
LoadModule proxy_http_module modules/mod_proxy_http.so
LoadModule proxy_scgi_module modules/mod_proxy_scgi.so
LoadModule proxy_ajp_module modules/mod_proxy_ajp.so
LoadModule proxy_balancer_module modules/mod_proxy_balancer.so
LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_ssl.so
LoadModule mime_module modules/mod_mime.so
LoadModule dav_module modules/mod_dav.so
LoadModule status_module modules/mod_status.so
LoadModule autoindex_module modules/mod_autoindex.so
LoadModule asis_module modules/mod_asis.so
LoadModule info_module modules/mod_info.so
LoadModule suexec_module modules/mod_suexec.so
LoadModule cgi_module modules/mod_cgi.so
LoadModule cgid_module modules/mod_cgid.so
LoadModule dav_fs_module modules/mod_dav_fs.so
LoadModule vhost_alias_module modules/mod_vhost_alias.so
LoadModule negotiation_module modules/mod_negotiation.so
LoadModule dir_module modules/mod_dir.so
# enable PHP.
LoadModule php5_module modules/libphp5.so
LoadModule imagemap_module modules/mod_imagemap.so
LoadModule actions_module modules/mod_actions.so
LoadModule speling_module modules/mod_speling.so
LoadModule userdir_module modules/mod_userdir.so
LoadModule alias_module modules/mod_alias.so
LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so
<IfModule !mpm_netware_module>
<IfModule !mpm_winnt_module>
# If you wish httpd to run as a different user or group, you must run
# httpd as root initially and it will switch.
# User/Group: The name (or #number) of the user/group to run httpd as.
# It is usually good practice to create a dedicated user and group for
# running httpd, as with most system services.
User http
Group http
</IfModule>
</IfModule>
# 'Main' server configuration
# The directives in this section set up the values used by the 'main'
# server, which responds to any requests that aren't handled by a
# <VirtualHost> definition. These values also provide defaults for
# any <VirtualHost> containers you may define later in the file.
# All of these directives may appear inside <VirtualHost> containers,
# in which case these default settings will be overridden for the
# virtual host being defined.
# ServerAdmin: Your address, where problems with the server should be
# e-mailed. This address appears on some server-generated pages, such
# as error documents. e.g. [email protected]
ServerAdmin [email protected]
# ServerName gives the name and port that the server uses to identify itself.
# This can often be determined automatically, but we recommend you specify
# it explicitly to prevent problems during startup.
# If your host doesn't have a registered DNS name, enter its IP address here.
#ServerName www.example.com:80
# DocumentRoot: The directory out of which you will serve your
# documents. By default, all requests are taken from this directory, but
# symbolic links and aliases may be used to point to other locations.
DocumentRoot "/home/local_user/Documents/development/php"
# Each directory to which Apache has access can be configured with respect
# to which services and features are allowed and/or disabled in that
# directory (and its subdirectories).
# First, we configure the "default" to be a very restrictive set of
# features.
<Directory />
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
Order deny,allow
Deny from all
</Directory>
# Note that from this point forward you must specifically allow
# particular features to be enabled - so if something's not working as
# you might expect, make sure that you have specifically enabled it
# below.
# This should be changed to whatever you set DocumentRoot to.
<Directory "/home/local_user/Documents/development/php">
# Possible values for the Options directive are "None", "All",
# or any combination of:
# Indexes Includes FollowSymLinks SymLinksifOwnerMatch ExecCGI MultiViews
# Note that "MultiViews" must be named *explicitly* --- "Options All"
# doesn't give it to you.
# The Options directive is both complicated and important. Please see
# http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/core.html#options
# for more information.
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
# AllowOverride controls what directives may be placed in .htaccess files.
# It can be "All", "None", or any combination of the keywords:
# Options FileInfo AuthConfig Limit
AllowOverride None
# Controls who can get stuff from this server.
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
# DirectoryIndex: sets the file that Apache will serve if a directory
# is requested.
<IfModule dir_module>
DirectoryIndex index.html
</IfModule>
# The following lines prevent .htaccess and .htpasswd files from being
# viewed by Web clients.
<FilesMatch "^\.ht">
Order allow,deny
Deny from all
Satisfy All
</FilesMatch>
# ErrorLog: The location of the error log file.
# If you do not specify an ErrorLog directive within a <VirtualHost>
# container, error messages relating to that virtual host will be
# logged here. If you *do* define an error logfile for a <VirtualHost>
# container, that host's errors will be logged there and not here.
ErrorLog "/var/log/httpd/error_log"
# LogLevel: Control the number of messages logged to the error_log.
# Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit,
# alert, emerg.
LogLevel warn
<IfModule log_config_module>
# The following directives define some format nicknames for use with
# a CustomLog directive (see below).
LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}i\"" combined
LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b" common
<IfModule logio_module>
# You need to enable mod_logio.c to use %I and %O
LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}i\" %I %O" combinedio
</IfModule>
# The location and format of the access logfile (Common Logfile Format).
# If you do not define any access logfiles within a <VirtualHost>
# container, they will be logged here. Contrariwise, if you *do*
# define per-<VirtualHost> access logfiles, transactions will be
# logged therein and *not* in this file.
CustomLog "/var/log/httpd/access_log" common
# If you prefer a logfile with access, agent, and referer information
# (Combined Logfile Format) you can use the following directive.
#CustomLog "/var/log/httpd/access_log" combined
</IfModule>
<IfModule alias_module>
# Redirect: Allows you to tell clients about documents that used to
# exist in your server's namespace, but do not anymore. The client
# will make a new request for the document at its new location.
# Example:
# Redirect permanent /foo http://www.example.com/bar
# Alias: Maps web paths into filesystem paths and is used to
# access content that does not live under the DocumentRoot.
# Example:
# Alias /webpath /full/filesystem/path
# If you include a trailing / on /webpath then the server will
# require it to be present in the URL. You will also likely
# need to provide a <Directory> section to allow access to
# the filesystem path.
# ScriptAlias: This controls which directories contain server scripts.
# ScriptAliases are essentially the same as Aliases, except that
# documents in the target directory are treated as applications and
# run by the server when requested rather than as documents sent to the
# client. The same rules about trailing "/" apply to ScriptAlias
# directives as to Alias.
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/srv/http/cgi-bin/"
</IfModule>
<IfModule cgid_module>
# ScriptSock: On threaded servers, designate the path to the UNIX
# socket used to communicate with the CGI daemon of mod_cgid.
#Scriptsock /run/httpd/cgisock
</IfModule>
# "/srv/http/cgi-bin" should be changed to whatever your ScriptAliased
# CGI directory exists, if you have that configured.
<Directory "/srv/http/cgi-bin">
AllowOverride None
Options None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
# DefaultType: the default MIME type the server will use for a document
# if it cannot otherwise determine one, such as from filename extensions.
# If your server contains mostly text or HTML documents, "text/plain" is
# a good value. If most of your content is binary, such as applications
# or images, you may want to use "application/octet-stream" instead to
# keep browsers from trying to display binary files as though they are
# text.
DefaultType text/plain
<IfModule mime_module>
# TypesConfig points to the file containing the list of mappings from
# filename extension to MIME-type.
TypesConfig conf/mime.types
# AddType allows you to add to or override the MIME configuration
# file specified in TypesConfig for specific file types.
#AddType application/x-gzip .tgz
# AddEncoding allows you to have certain browsers uncompress
# information on the fly. Note: Not all browsers support this.
#AddEncoding x-compress .Z
#AddEncoding x-gzip .gz .tgz
# If the AddEncoding directives above are commented-out, then you
# probably should define those extensions to indicate media types:
AddType application/x-compress .Z
AddType application/x-gzip .gz .tgz
# AddHandler allows you to map certain file extensions to "handlers":
# actions unrelated to filetype. These can be either built into the server
# or added with the Action directive (see below)
# To use CGI scripts outside of ScriptAliased directories:
# (You will also need to add "ExecCGI" to the "Options" directive.)
#AddHandler cgi-script .cgi
# For type maps (negotiated resources):
#AddHandler type-map var
# Filters allow you to process content before it is sent to the client.
# To parse .shtml files for server-side includes (SSI):
# (You will also need to add "Includes" to the "Options" directive.)
#AddType text/html .shtml
#AddOutputFilter INCLUDES .shtml
MIMEMagicFile conf/magic
</IfModule>
# The mod_mime_magic module allows the server to use various hints from the
# contents of the file itself to determine its type. The MIMEMagicFile
# directive tells the module where the hint definitions are located.
#MIMEMagicFile conf/magic
# Customizable error responses come in three flavors:
# 1) plain text 2) local redirects 3) external redirects
# Some examples:
#ErrorDocument 500 "The server made a boo boo."
#ErrorDocument 404 /missing.html
#ErrorDocument 404 "/cgi-bin/missing_handler.pl"
#ErrorDocument 402 http://www.example.com/subscription_info.html
# MaxRanges: Maximum number of Ranges in a request before
# returning the entire resource, or one of the special
# values 'default', 'none' or 'unlimited'.
# Default setting is to accept 200 Ranges.
#MaxRanges unlimited
# EnableMMAP and EnableSendfile: On systems that support it,
# memory-mapping or the sendfile syscall is used to deliver
# files. This usually improves server performance, but must
# be turned off when serving from networked-mounted
# filesystems or if support for these functions is otherwise
# broken on your system.
#EnableMMAP off
#EnableSendfile off
# Supplemental configuration
# The configuration files in the conf/extra/ directory can be
# included to add extra features or to modify the default configuration of
# the server, or you may simply copy their contents here and change as
# necessary.
# Server-pool management (MPM specific)
#Include conf/extra/httpd-mpm.conf
# Multi-language error messages
Include conf/extra/httpd-multilang-errordoc.conf
# Fancy directory listings
Include conf/extra/httpd-autoindex.conf
# Language settings
Include conf/extra/httpd-languages.conf
# User home directories
Include conf/extra/httpd-userdir.conf
# Real-time info on requests and configuration
#Include conf/extra/httpd-info.conf
# Virtual hosts
#Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
# Local access to the Apache HTTP Server Manual
#Include conf/extra/httpd-manual.conf
# Distributed authoring and versioning (WebDAV)
#Include conf/extra/httpd-dav.conf
# Various default settings
Include conf/extra/httpd-default.conf
# enable the PHP5 module.
Include conf/extra/php5_module.conf
# Secure (SSL/TLS) connections
#Include conf/extra/httpd-ssl.conf
# Note: The following must must be present to support
# starting without SSL on platforms with no /dev/random equivalent
# but a statically compiled-in mod_ssl.
<IfModule ssl_module>
SSLRandomSeed startup builtin
SSLRandomSeed connect builtin
</IfModule>
Last edited by publicus (2014-02-02 18:06:07)

Answer 1

WorMzy wrote:
Switch to the http user and see if you can manually browse to the directory.
# su -s /bin/bash - http
Find out where the user can't get to, and fix the permissions.
You're right.  I can't get there.
I tried to make Apache start up as me (my user), but got an error that said that it cannot start it up like that.  I think I have a possible solution for the given problem.  I'll my user to the http group and then work from /srv/http.
I'd love to get some feedback if someone has a different approach .  I love to learn from the experience of others .