[SOLVED] Apache 403 file permission error when accesing a symlink file (CentOS 6.3)

mkvakic · 02-12-2013, 05:08 AM

Hello,

When trying to access a file outside the server document root directory, i get the 403 permission error.
It is a plain text file which i link with:

ln -s /home/blah/blah.txt /var/www/html/.

Since this is a lack of understanding(thus very common on Google) on my part, i have tried the following:

1) Checking the FollowSymLinks option in the httpd.conf file for the document root directory (already there)

2) Changing the permission (755) to the whole path leading to the file.

3) Adding the username "apache" to the group "users"

4) Initialising httpd.conf file as one of the members of the group "users"

5) Turning off SELinux

6) Praying

I know this is a fairly common question(embarassingly), but i've yet to find a solution.
Any help is much appreciated.

Regards,
Marko

shivaa · 02-12-2013, 05:22 AM

I guess your purpose is to create a soft link named /home/blah/blah.txt for /var/www/html/, which you done as,

Code:

~$ ln -s /home/blah/blah.txt /var/www/html/.

But it's not correct.
Link command has following syntax (see more here),

Code:

ln [OPTION]... [-T] TARGET LINK_NAME

So you should try like,

Code:

~$ ln -s /var/www/html /home/blah/blah.txt

Where, /var/www/html is your target directory and /home/blah/blah.txt is link name. You can further verify the soft link as,

Code:

~$ ls -li /home/blah/blah.txt
lrwx ......... /home/blah/blah.txt -> /var/www/html

mkvakic · 02-12-2013, 05:32 AM

Sorry i don't want to be rude, but i think you've got it the other way around.

The way you did it is created a blah.txt link to the folder /var/www/html.
I want the link to point to the blah.txt ( in my case folders with images ):

# ll /var/www/html/blah.txt

lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 29 2013-02-12 10:38 blah.txt -> /home/blah/blah.txt

shivaa · 02-12-2013, 07:27 AM

My purpose was to point out the correct syntax. In your first case, it was not correct. You could have done it like,

Code:

~$ ln -s /home/blah/blah.txt /var/www/html/linkname
~$ ls -li /var/www/html/blah.txt
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root  29 2013-02-12 10:38 /var/www/html/linkname -> /home/blah/blah.txt

BTW, has it solved your problem?

mkvakic · 02-12-2013, 09:03 AM

Hmm, im not sure how my first post was different from your last one...

But no, it is still not working.

jpollard · 02-12-2013, 10:30 AM

Depending on distribution, the usual problem is that /home/blah/blah.txt that is pointed to by the symbolic link is not accessible by apache. The file (and the directory path it is in) must be accessable (rx for directories, and r for the file) in either group or world. The file must be in the apache group for group access (the directory path may be rx for group, IF the group is also apache, or world).

On RH systems with active SELinux controls the file must also be labeled with the SELinux labels (either httpd_sys_content/httpd_sys_rw_content, or httpd_user_content/httpd_user_rw_content) types.

mkvakic · 02-13-2013, 02:46 AM

Thank you for your time shivaa and jpollard.

I solved the problem by actually reading an Apache/SElinux manual...

The first step was to enable reading of the home directories:

Code:

setsebool -P httpd_enable_homedirs 1

Then assign a proper type to the directory where the files reside:

Code:

chcon -R -t httpd_sys_content_t ~user/public_html

Finally linking the files which are to be used.

Thank you once more for your time.

shivaa · 02-13-2013, 03:25 AM

Happy to hear that

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