I just upgraded to the newest release of Apache2 httpd, and decided to setup some virtual hosts for all the domains I have on my box to have their own index. One of my friends asked that I let him use one of the domains, so I said sure, and setup the following VirtualHost (edited domain/user):

NameVirtualHost domain2.com:80
<VirtualHost domain2.com:80>
ServerAdmin friend@domain2.com
DocumentRoot /home/friend/public_html
ServerName domain2.com
ErrorLog logs/domain2.com-error_log
CustomLog logs/domain2.com-access_log common
</VirtualHost>

I then had him create the dir public_html in his home directory, and he made up a test index page. I restarted Apache and got no errors, so I assumed all was well.
When I try to access the page in IE, I get a 403 forbidden error tho! I then was curious, and changed the DocumentRoot to /home/myuser/public_html, restarted Apache, and loaded an index file just fine. What gives?! Both public_html folders were made by plain users, and the index files were just "echo blahblahtext > index.html". I also tried this with ANOTHER account on my box, and it gave me the same 403 error.

Perhaps something is setup differently, since I used my /home/myuser/public_html dir previous to the upgrade?! I'm stumped.

TTT... someone? No ideas as to what to check that would make 1 user's public_html dir work, and no one elses?!

Well, the only thing I can think of is permissions. Apache's finicky sometimes :-/ Try changing the owndership of your friend's public_html directory to the same user/group that owns your public_html directory.

hth,
Laura

i guess,too, that its a permission question. chmod the home/public directory to 0755 and the files in there at least to be readable for everybody.