Re: [users@httpd] Permissions problem with accessing a file via a symbolic link - (Mac OS X 10.5.7, Apache 2.2.11)

[Doug Bell <do...@plainblack.com>]

Please do not top-post.

On Jul 13, 2009, at 2:49 PM, Scott Ford wrote:

> Thanks for your reply.  Before I received a reply, I did some  
> testing and added Options Indexes FollowSymLinks to my alias  
> directive, and everything started working.
>
> It should go in a <Directory /your/document/root> block in the  
> <VirtualHost *:80> block. If there is no <VirtualHost> block, then  
> somewhere after the DocumentRoot declaration.
> It should be Options +FollowSymLinks (always use +/- before the  
> option)
>
> I am curious though, I did not add a "+" before, yet it is still  
> working. What is the benefit to adding that?

Options Indexes FollowSymLinks  # Enable only these options
Options +Indexes +FollowSymLinks # Add these two options to any  
previously enabled options

So if you were to do:

<VirtualHost ...>
     <Directory /webroot>
         Options FollowSymLinks # Only FollowSymLinks, all other  
options disabled
     </Directory>
     <Directory /webroot/cgi>
         Options ExecCGI # Only ExecCGI, all other options disabled
     </Directory>
     <Directory /webroot/uploads>
         Options +Indexes # FollowSymLinks and Indexes are both enabled
     </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

See http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/core.html#options

Doug Bell -- Senior Developer, Plain Black Corp.
[ http://plainblack.com ]
all that groks is

>
> On Mon, Jul 13, 2009 at 11:41 AM, Doug Bell <do...@plainblack.com>  
> wrote:
> On Jul 13, 2009, at 1:13 PM, Scott Ford wrote:
>
> I am running Mac OS X 10.5.7 with Apache 2.2.11 installed.  I have an
> audio application that creates an html log file of tracks that are
> playing.  I am trying to use a symbolic link to access the html file
> so I can post it on my site over my LAN.  The file resides in a  
> directory inside
> of my documents folder...
> /Users/[username]/Documents/MegaSeg User Data/Logs
> I have verified that the permissions to all of the parent directories
> have at least execute privileges for others.  The html log file I am
> trying to link to has the following privileges...
> -rw-r--r--@  1 [username]  staff    625 Jul 10 17:17 NowPlaying.html
> I used the following command to setup my symbolic link...
> ln -s /Users/[username]/Documents/MegaSeg\ User\ Data/Logs/
> NowPlaying.html nowplaying.html
> That seemed to work fine, because when I do an ls -al in my website's
> folder I see the link.  I have a basic index.html, with a link to
> nowplaying.html, but when I click on the link I get a 403 Forbidden
> error.
>
> What does the error log say exactly? http://wiki.apache.org/httpd/DistrosDefaultLayout#head-71b68a0694807d2b3b5d02e46b7a11f01fdd4836 
>  <- find your error log here
>
> In reading the Apache documentation, I found that I may need to have  
> FollowSymLinks somewhere in my configuration, but I am not sure from  
> the Apache documentation where that should go.  I assume it would  
> either be in the form of a .htaccess file, or somewhere in the  
> httpd.conf file.  It should be noted that the DocumentRoot directory  
> I am using is configured as an Alias in my httpd.conf.  I am sure  
> that this is configured correctly as I can access it just fine over  
> my LAN.
>
> It should go in a <Directory /your/document/root> block in the  
> <VirtualHost *:80> block. If there is no <VirtualHost> block, then  
> somewhere after the DocumentRoot declaration.
> It should be Options +FollowSymLinks (always use +/- before the  
> option)