os-linux/4440: Apache does not follow symbolic links across different file systems but reports Forbidden instead.

[Peter De Leeuw <Pe...@Advalvas.Be>]

>Number:         4440
>Category:       os-linux
>Synopsis:       Apache does not follow symbolic links across different file systems but reports Forbidden instead.
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       non-critical
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    apache
>State:          open
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   apache
>Arrival-Date:   Tue May 18 11:10:04 PDT 1999
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     Peter.DeLeeuw@Advalvas.Be
>Organization:
apache
>Release:        1.3.1
>Environment:
>Description:
Apache does not follow symbolic links (although asked to) across file systems.

When you have for instance 3 file systems linked as show by the following df output :
Filesystem         1024-blocks  Used Available Capacity Mounted on
/dev/hda1             297792   69929   227863     23%   /
/dev/hda3              49863   11921    37942     24%   /var
/dev/hda4            6777378  683893  6093485     10%   /home             

and in / is a symbolic link called usr wich points to the directory /home/usr

and you put an alias direct in the configuration files of apache like the following :
Alias /error/ /usr/error/          (wich is actually /home/usr/error)

then when trying to access http://servername.foo.com/error/document.html
you get a Forbidden (403 ?) answer from the server ...
>How-To-Repeat:
Look in full description for example.
>Fix:

>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted:
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>uname -a 
Linux zardo.on-line.be 2.0.34 #1 Fri Aug 28 19:39:04 PDT 1998 mips unknown