Ubuntu – Apache symlinked to home directory – Permission Errors

Apache2permissions

im having a few problems symlinking my /var/www/ to a new Webroot directory inside my home folder. I think these stem from my lack of understanding of linux permissions.

As far as im aware, symlinks should take the form of the directory you want to linked and the directory you want to be linked to, so in my case, i ran:

sudo ln -s ~/Webroot/* /var/www/

this has sort of worked, if i run ls on /var/www/ i can see all of the files in my Webroot directory.

Whenever i try to run a file that is in my Webroot folder, i get a 403 permission error, is this because the files in my Webroot directory are created by me, and the apache instance is being run as www-data?

if this is the case, would this mean i need to change the permissions on every file i create in order to run it?

I have previously run a local apache instance my pointing the directory root of my default vhost to the Webroot folder, in this instance i did not need to alter any permissions. Any help would be appreciated.

Best Answer

This is not a good practice, I agree with Weboide. But there is a simple way to achieve this goal.

1). enable the apache userdir module. 

sudo  a2enmod userdir

this will enable apache userdir module. Now you can put the contents of website in ~/Webroot/ or whatever inside your home directory.

Note: The default folder is ~/public_html

2). Make necessary changes to /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/userdir.conf.

3). Restart the apache

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Now you can access the site by navigating your browser to http://ip-address/~username. You can also set a virtual host for this site.

If you are looking to run php files you need to do one more step

edit the /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/php5.conf and comment the following lines:

 <IfModule mod_userdir.c>
        <Directory /home/*/public_html>
            php_admin_value engine Off
        </Directory>
    </IfModule>
</IfModule>

Then restart the apache.

Thats it. You are done.

Ref:https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UserDirectoryPHP

Hope this helps. If you face any difficulties feel free to post it here.

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