[clug-talk] Apache and FC3 - DocumentRoot does not exist

[Jason Louie]

This is due to SELinux... I was just working in the issue today.  You
either have learn how to use chcon to set the permissions or disable
SELinux with the command system-config-securitylevel, (I choose the
latter.)  SELinux will cause issues particularly with diffrent
partitions for each service, (at least for me anyways.)

Just a note... if you choose to keep SELinux enabled expect similar
issues with postgresql, mysql and others.  For me disabling SELinux
solved most the issues.


On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 17:25:11 -0700, Shawn <sgrover at open2space.com> wrote:
> I just ran into an odd problem, and think I have found a fix.  But it took 2
> hours of google to find the fix.  Perhaps someone can offer some insight?
> 
> I'm using Fedora Core 3.  I set up the httpd.conf file, and added a
> vhosts.conf file to the /etc/httpd/conf.d directory (all *.conf files in this
> directory are included into the main httpd.conf file).  The virtual host I
> set up pointed the DocumentRoot to a directory in /home/www (the main
> server's DocumentRoot is at /var/www/html).  When I tried to start the
> service, I would get a message something like this:
> 
> Starting httpd: Warning: DocumentRoot [/home/www/myhost] does not exist
> 
> But, typing in "cd /home/www/myhost" worked fine.  So I thought it was a
> permissions problem, and set a <Directory> directive in the virtual host
> definition to allow all access, and even chown'd the directory to
> apache:apache (the user/group apache is running under).  Restarting the
> service showed the same error message.  So off to Google.
> 
> It seems this is a common problem, but the solution is not easily found.
> After a loot of digging, I began to find references to SELinux being
> involved.  I don't remember setting anything up for SELinux, but I guess FC3
> does automatically.  After a bunch more digging, I came across this posting:
> https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-selinux-list/2004-September/msg00060.html
> 
> The first tip works (though he mistyped the -t -R bit - they need to be
> swapped around).  After doing
> "chcon -R -t httpd_user_content_t /home/www/myhost/"
> restarting the service didn't report the problem.  AND navigating to that page
> actually did something other than giving me a 403 error.
> 
> I feel this is a case where the symptoms do not match the cause of the
> problem.  Who would have thought you'd need to either change the security
> context of your files, or disable selinux outright to set up a virtual host??
> It does make sense in a convoluted way though....
> 
> Hope this helps someone else with this problem.  And maybe someone can suggest
> a better solution???
> 
> Shawn
> 
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