Apache user directories not working

[Allblack]

hi,

I just installed Fedora core 1 and the apache installs that comes with it.
The server is up and running. I can see the default welcome page.
I need to enable user directories but it does not seem to work.

I keep on getting a 403 forbidden error.
I have created a public_html directory, specified Userdir enabled and the permissions on the folder are 755.

I tried this with Fedora core 3 as well but same problem.
Specifying a <directory "/home/*/public_html"> directive does not seem to make a difference

any ideas?

[UgoDeschamps]

can you post your httpd.conf
an except your 755 permission did you set anything else?

[Allblack]

Here are the sections that are relevant

<IfModule mod_userdir.c>
#
# UserDir is disabled by default since it can confirm the presence
# of a username on the system (depending on home directory

# permissions).
#
UserDir enabled myusercode
UserDir disabled root

#
# To enable requests to /~user/ to serve the user's public_html
# directory, remove the "UserDir disable" line above, and uncomment
# the following line instead:
#
UserDir public_html

</IfModule>

#
# Control access to UserDir directories. The following is an example
# for a site where these directories are restricted to read-only.
#
<Directory /home/*/public_html>
AllowOverride FileInfo AuthConfig Limit
Options MultiViews Indexes SymLinksIfOwnerMatch IncludesNoExec
<Limit GET POST OPTIONS>
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Limit>
<LimitExcept GET POST OPTIONS>
Order deny,allow
Deny from all
</LimitExcept>
</Directory>

The public_html has 755 permissions. This is the error I get

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /~myusername/ on this server.

Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

[Giro]

Do you have an index file? And files should be 644 unless there cgi scripts or directorys.

[Allblack]

Sure do. And my index file is 644

[the_unforgiven]

http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/mod/mod_userdir.html
http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/howto/public_html.html

[Allblack]

My httpd.conf file looks correct if you ask me.
I had a look at those links and can't see anything I have done differently.
Worked fine on FreeBSD, just cannot get it to go on fedora

[the_unforgiven]

Did you check out your error_log?
It must've given the reason why a 403 Forbidden error was encounterd.

Also, instead of trying out all the options at one go, why don't you start with the most basic setup and try if it works fine?
Then you can keep on adding options - like making it stricter and stricter.

[Allblack]

yes, it says permission denied. The default httpd.conf file doesn't need more than uncommetting the appropriate sections right?
I did not do anything else other than uncommenting it.

cheers

[the_unforgiven]

yes, it says permission denied. The default httpd.conf file doesn't need more than uncommetting the appropriate sections right?
I did not do anything else other than uncommenting it.

cheers

Hmm..
And your dir permissions are 755, right?

Ok, then it could be problem of your Order allow,deny.
Try setting it as
<Limit GET POST OPTIONS>
Order deny,allow
Allow from all
</Limit>

instead of
<Limit GET POST OPTIONS>
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Limit>
This is just to get it working for everybody.
Later on you can make it stricter by specifying rules about hosts that should be allowed to access the site.

Remember, the second value overrides the first value in the Order directive.