Idiots guide to setting up apache so I can learn PHP?

[rawlyn]

Hi, I wondered if any of you kind apache-wise folk out there could help a moron in distress... I want to learn to use PHP a bit and have installed the apache packages needed, everything went swimmingly there. I would like to now set it up so that when I enter

http://localhost/stuff/

into my browser it actually reads documents from

/home/rawlyn/stuff/

I've been informed I can do this - but how?
Thanks in advance!

Peace,
Rawlyn.

[slith]

Try this:

edit the http.conf (may vary from distro to distro)
change the line that says:

DocumentRoot: "/var/www/htdocs or something"
to
DocumentRoo: "/home/youruser/"

Think that will do it

[twhiting9275]

DocumentRoo: "/home/youruser/"

First, that should be DocumentRoot:
Secondly, that's THE most insecure way to do anything. By doing this, you grant all users access to /mail/ , etc in /home/user/ , and everything else created by default.

Now, the proper way to do this:

Alias /stuff/ /home/user/stuff/

Now, this will allow the user access to the entire directory, so make sure that you have the proper security setup for this.

In addition, you should create a public_html directory, instead of having this all default to your homedir, and put your www stuff in there. This way you can simply redirect everything for your ip to that public_html directory, which is somewhat safe.

[slith]

He doesn't asked to be safe, did him? Lots of people come here and ask absurd things, like "how can I change permissions to 777 in -R /* ?"m and.. you dont need to be so rude with a simple typo, do you?

[twhiting9275]

He does'nt asked to be safe, did him?

Look, you gave him incredibly poor advice. Like it or not, you did. I corrected that advice, politely. Next time, think before you give advice like that.

The way(s) I posted to do this are the more effecient and secure ways to do this. Security, when you're working with php , apache, ANY kind of server which is (inevitably) going to be online is foremost important.

you dont need to be so rude with a simple typo, do you?

RUDE?
Hardly rude at all. I corrected your typo, there's nothing "rude" about that. In fact, I was very polite about it. I didn't insult you, I didn't call you any names, or insult your typo, I merely corrected it, politely even. Please, learn the definition of "rude", as I've hardly been that.

This is my business here, security is key, and it's going to be the first thing that comes into mind. Why? Because it's what I do for a living, what I have done for a living for the past 3 years, and what I will do for a living for the quite forseeable future. Security, and proper administration aren't learned in 1 night, they're taught, over years of this stuff. Offering poor advice like "hey, set apache's document root to your home directory", well, it's just flat out poor, insecure, and that needs to be made very clear from the start.

If you want to be hacked, or to have your private mail, or private files distributed everywhere, hey, by all means, set apache's document root to your home directory. Just make sure to give me your ip address so I can block you from my network, so's you don't come attacking me when you get rooted, 0wn3d, and your server turns into a zombie

[rawlyn]

I have to admit, that first reply confused me... for starters I can't find http.conf, only httpd.conf. But as that appears to be insecure (and although I didn't specify security, I kind of took it as read that I wouldn't want to leave my system open to the worlk), I won't be using that anyways...

twhiting - where, and in which file, should I add the Alias line? I'm new to the whole web-server concept really, and could really do with it being spelt out for me slowly :P thanks for your help this far though

Peace,
Rawlyn.

[deek]

Yeah, your configuration file is httpd.conf. And that is where you would put the alias line also.

[twhiting9275]

Usually (usually), httpd.conf will be in one of two places:
A> /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
B> /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf

It all depends on what version of httpd you're using

[deek]

In slackware 10.1, it is in /etc/apache

Just an fyi:)

[twhiting9275]

In slackware 10.1, it is in /etc/apache

Damn them slackware people for breaking the rules of where apache should go :P