[techtalk] Apache PLEASE HELP!

[JamesA.Sutherland]

On Mon, 9 Apr 2001 11:22:05 -0700, you wrote:

>'Lo all-
>
>I've been silent for a while, but I've got a bad problem right now.
>
>I will prompt the following list of actions by saying I am (obviously) NOT
>an apache expert ;-(
>
>A user was complaining that they couldn't get .htaccess to work.  I checked
>their machine, couldn't figure out what the problem was.  Tried to put in
>the AllowOverride directive into httpd.conf 

Nothing wrong with that.

>(because I forgot/didn't realize
>it had to go into access.conf), 

It doesn't. For Apache, all configuration files are equivalent.

>and it kept telling me "AllowOverride not
>allowd here" when I'd try to restart httpd.  

That means it's in the wrong context, not in the wrong file.

>Then I tried putting lines
>similar to the following:
>
><Directory /directory-user-wanted-to-protect>
>	AllowOverride All
>	SomeOtherOptions
><Directory>

Yep, that's fine.

>into httpd.conf.  I realize, again, this should've been going into
>access.conf.  Then I just kept getting error 403's on EVERYTHING on the
>server.  So, in frustration, I restored the original httpd.conf file that
>used to work, restarted httpd...and I STILL get the 403 permission denied
>errors on any file on the server!
>
>Here's the access_log lines:
>
>from-host - - [09/Apr/2001:10:39:00 -0700] "GET /sbg/notes HTTP/1.1" 403 219
>from-host - - [09/Apr/2001:10:39:26 -0700] "GET /sbg/notes HTTP/1.1" 403 219
>from-host - - [09/Apr/2001:10:41:33 -0700] "GET /sbg/notes HTTP/1.0" 403 207
>from-host - - [09/Apr/2001:10:42:47 -0700] "GET /test HTTP/1.1" 403 214
>from-host - - [09/Apr/2001:10:42:51 -0700] "GET /test HTTP/1.1" 403 214
>from-host - - [09/Apr/2001:11:05:55 -0700] "GET /test HTTP/1.1" 403 214
>
>So then I tried copying over an httpd.conf file from an older machine and
>pasting in the LoadModules lines, and still the same errors.
>
>Did putting those Directory lines in somehow break apache?
>
>It appears that apache is not longer interpreting the access.conf file?  Or
>is it something else?  PLEASE HELP!  This is a new job and I have now just
>taken a users web server down; I'm kicking myself for messing with this in
>the first place...

See what appears in the error log, as opposed to the access log - this
should give a better indication of WHY the access is being denied.


James.