Apache2 + CGI: "You don't have permission..."

[alekto]

Hi,
trying to run python scripts on my Apache2 through CGI.
I am running BackTrack 5 - 2.6.39.4

This is the content of my /etc/apache2/sites-available/default

.
.
.
 ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /root/public_html/cgi-bin/
  <Directory /cgi-bin/>
     AllowOverride None
     Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
     AddHandler cgi-script py
     Order allow,deny
     Allow from all
  </Directory>
.
.
.

After restarting the Apache server, /etc/init.d/apache restart
I try to access the sample.py script:

#!/usr/bin/python
print "Content-type: text/html\n\n"
print "Hello, World."
for i in 'hello':
    print i+'\n'

..from the following URL: localhost/cgi-bin/sample.py
And I am getting this error:

403 Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /cgi-bin/sample.py on this server.

The Apache-logs shows this error:

[Sat Dec 31 12:21:32 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] (13)Permission denied: access to /cgi-bin/sample.py denied

Both the /cgi-bin/ and the sample.py is sat to 755 permission, have also tried with 777.

I have also tried all this from the /cgi-bin/ directory in /root/public_html

Any help is appreciated!

[atreyu]

It is probably that your aliased dir is in /root, which itself is not accessible by the apache user (even tho the public_html dir is). Try moving that dir to somewhere else (e.g. /www/public_html). Ensure that the parent dir (e.g. /www) has read/execute by all permissions on it.

[alekto]

Thank you!
I created /public_html outside the /root directory, sat the permissions to 777 - It works!