I'm having a bit of a problem getting Apache to recognise my changes to httpd.conf.

I'm running Apache 1.3.27 on SUSE 8.x (can't remember exactly). Bear with me, I'm a bit of a newbie...

For starters, Apache won't let the directive AllowOverride All stand. I put this in my httpd.conf:
DocumentRoot "/srv/www/htdocs"

####### snip #######

<Directory />
AuthUserFile /etc/httpd/passwd
AuthGroupFile /etc/httpd/group

Options +FollowSymLinks +Multiviews
AllowOverride All
</Directory>

<Directory /srv/www/htdocs>
<IfModule mod_dav.c>
DAV Off
</IfModule>
<Files test.php3>
Order deny,allow
deny from all
allow from localhost
</Files>
</Directory>

####### snip #######

And if I then put some directives in a .htaccess file in a sub directory, the following show up in my log file:

- RewriteEngine not allowed here
- order not allowed here

Of course, depending on which directive I put it.

It seems that the only thing I'm allowed to do in .htaccess is authentication.

I've been searching high and low for a solution to this problem and I've tried a million things. I'm sure it's just a small thing I've missed but I can't find it!

I'm toying with the idea that perhaps Suse is playing tricks on me because it's got so many extra config files all over the place and somewhere something is overriding my settings. I've tried commenting out stuff in some of the config files, to no avail.

Before you ask, I do rememeber to restart Apache every time I change http.conf ("httpd restart"). Also, if I put garbage in my http.conf and restart, Apache does complain which suggests that the file _is_ read.

Please help - I'm desperate!

PS
I'll post my full httpd.conf if you wish.