Problem with squirrelmail login data_dir

carstenson · 02-13-2009, 07:47 AM

I have researched this quite a bit and I guess no one is having this problem. I am creating a new mail server.

apache 2.2.11-2
php 5.2.8-1
squirrelmail 1.4.17-3

When I run configtest.php, I get the error:

Code:

ERROR: Data dir (/var/local/squirrelmail/data/) does not exist!

When I try to login, I get the error:

Code:

Error opening ../data/default_pref
Could not create initial preference file!
/var/local/squirrelmail/data/ should be writable by user httpd
Please contact your system administrator and report this error.

I don't know which of the three packages are causing this problem. I have checked that the data directory exists, and I have tried all sorts of owners/permissions. I suspect that apache or php aren't allowing access outside of apache's root, or possibly expecting this directory chain within the apache root dir.

Thanks for any help.

bathory · 02-13-2009, 08:02 AM

Apache does not serve pages outside of DocumentRoot, unless you setup an Alias:

Code:

Alias /webmail/ "/var/local/squirrelmail/"

You may also add the default:

Code:

<Directory "/var/local/squirrelmail">
   Order allow,deny
   Allow from all
</Directory>

Regards

carstenson · 02-13-2009, 08:20 AM

Thanks for the response, bathory. That's what I was suspecting. This data directory is an absolute path, outside of apache. I'm not sure how to apply the alias, since it is not something that users will directly access. It is defined in squirrelmail and just used within that app. The documentation recommends going outside of DocumentRoot, and the package installed with this directory.

I did try several variations of your directory code, without success. I tried your exact code, I tried adding a trailing "/", I added "data" to this, and I added another trailing "/". Any other suggestions.

I will try changing SM's config to be within the DocumentRoot, even though this is not recommended.

bathory · 02-13-2009, 08:36 AM

Well, reading the documentation it should work.
You didn't mentioned your distro, but seeing at your profile that you use redhat based distros, check to see if it isn't a selinux problem for the /var/local/squirrelmail directory.

carstenson · 02-13-2009, 08:46 AM

Sorry, I should've mentioned that I am trying out Arch. I am really enjoying the total control that it gives. Much different than RH. I've seen the problems reported with selinux, but that shouldn't apply to me.

My workaround did get me going. I am still interested in solving this, since I am doing what they recommend not to do.

This is my config.php change in squirrelmail. It adds the directories within DocumentRoot.

Code:

$data_dir                 = SM_PATH . 'data/';
$attachment_dir           = SM_PATH . 'attach/';

bathory · 02-13-2009, 09:17 AM

Are you sure it's not a permissions problem?
What it the output of:

Code:

ls -l /var/local
ls -l /var/local/squirrelmail