Ubuntu – How to give Apache access to files in the home directory

apache-http-serverpermissionsUbuntu

I'm a Ubuntu Linux user (Lucid Lynx) who is running Apache. I have a collection of zip files in a folder in my home directory (~/zip_files) which I would like to be able to link to through apache, such that when somebody who visits my website which I'm using Apache to host clicks a link to one of the zip files, he can download it through the web. How can I provide Apache with access to the files and set the permissions? Thanks, I'm new to linux!

Best Answer

There are two approaches that you can take:

Change the DocumentRoot in your Apache conf file to your home directory. This will immediately serve your documents across HTTP. You will need to reload Apache to see the change.
The second approach is to use a symlink. Symlinks are essentially references to other files or folders. In the directory /var/www type:
```
ln -s /var/www /home/username
```
This is a good description of symlink. You will still need to set the FollowSymLinks option in the Apache conf and reload Apache.

For both approaches, make sure that the folder permissions are at least 755 (use chmod 755 /home/username) to ensure the permissions are correct.

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – Allowing apache access to a subdirectory in a home directory without access to the home directory

This was answered over on AskUbuntu for me, but I will post here for the benefit of non-Ubuntu folks:

You can leave your $HOME dir ownership alone. You don't need to set it to www-data. What you do have to do is ensure that Apache has execute permissions on $HOME and everything above it. So, you could do something like this:

chmod 751 "$HOME" sudo chmod 751 /home

However, the fact that $HOME is encrypted might pose major problems for Apache unless you can somehow configure Apache to use the proper decryption key.

EDIT:

Setting execute permissions on a directory means only that you can access something inside the directory if you already know its name and if what you're trying to access also has correct permissions. So setting a global x-bit on $HOME isn't too much of a security risk, as long as all your other files have reasonable permissions. You might want to look into your umask to be sure.

Linux – Apache Won’t List Full Directory

I have the same problem on a hosted solution, so I don't have the access to the "master" Apache config files - although I'm allowed to put .htaccess in my subfolders, and allow Options +Indexes there. However, even when I do so, files called README do not get listed - while files named Readme do.

This tells me that probably README is disabled somewhere in the top-level Apache setup, and probably via IndexIgnore; the problem with that seems to be:

Re. Can htaccess restore default indexing - PHP Server Side Scripting forum at WebmasterWorld

Once you setup IndexIgnore you cannot override it from the sub-folders. Try using order allow,deny for it.

... and I gave this a try:

Options +Indexes
<Limit GET POST>
  order deny,allow
  deny from all
  allow from all
</Limit>
<Files "README">
  order deny,allow
  deny from all
  allow from all
</Files>

, but it seems not even that helps with a file named README - at least not with the limited config possibilities I have. Another thing is that there is a ReadmeName attribute for apache (e.g. apache2 - Change default ReadmeName in Apache - Server Fault); which could also cause trouble? Also similar question: http - Apache do not show README.TXT files in directory listing. How can i enable it? - Stack Overflow

Anyways, the quick fix for me is to rename the file from allcaps README to mixed caps...

Best Answer

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Ubuntu – Allowing apache access to a subdirectory in a home directory without access to the home directory

Linux – Apache Won’t List Full Directory

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