Apache does not show and does not follow SymLinks

Question

On Linux Fedora 15, Apache doesn't follow symlinks, and they did not show in directory index... Can you help me why?

Just to mention that in httpd.conf I do have :

<Directory />
    Options FollowSymLinks
</Directory>

Also, User and Group defined in httpd.conf are owners of proper directories where is web application saved...

Can you tell me what I'm doing wrong? Thank you in advance!!!

UPDATE: is a problem occured because target is on the other hard drive?

UPDATE 2: it follows symbolic links, but this link for some reason is not followed. It points to the dir on other hard drive.

UPDATE 3: there is "nothing special" after first direction, ie:

<Directory "/var/www/html">
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride All
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
</Directory>

I think the FollowSymlinks should be in your webroot-dir, possibly `/var/www`. — ott--, Nov 06 '11 at 18:54
What's the rest of your config look like? Just because you've set `FollowSymLinks` on the root, doesn't mean it's not unset somewhere else.. — Shane Madden, Nov 06 '11 at 20:38
no, nothing special after first Follow... pls check updated part of my message... — user52869, Nov 06 '11 at 22:10
`AllowOverride All` makes it possible for `FollowSymLinks` to be turned off in a `.htaccess`-file. — Kvisle, Nov 06 '11 at 22:16
tnx for advice, but, no, it's not turned off with htaccess :-(((( — user52869, Nov 06 '11 at 22:20
it looks like i can not browse directories outside webroot-dir — user52869, Nov 06 '11 at 22:25
Yes, it is because of **SeLinux**. Next line helped me: chcon -t httpd_sys_content_t /myDir/* Thank you all! — user52869, Nov 06 '11 at 22:45

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 13 '13 at 20:40

3

Make sure that Apache has read permission in the directory the link points too. Giving read permission on the link itself is not sufficient.

answered Mar 13 '13 at 20:40

Krist van Besien

1,862
13
16

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 29 '16 at 18:50

I know I'm very late for this question, but maybe I can help someone else. I had the same problem and finally I solved it: you have to change permissions of all parent directories of the target of your symbolic link. In my case -e.g.- the link pointed to /run/media/username/device/subdirectory/target (I use arch linux). So I needed to change "username" and "subdirectory" access permissions (the other ones should be fine by default):

setfacl -m "u:http:r-x" /run/media/username/device/subdirectory
setfacl -m "u:http:r-x" /run/media/username

For the latter you need root permissions (and, of course, http is httpd user defined in httpd.conf).

If you are a developer working on source code in your home folder "/home/user" is the one www--data needs access to. This caught me out for ages. (Thanks for the light bulb moment). — MortimerCat, Dec 26 '21 at 06:09

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 07 '11 at 05:49

If only this link is a problem, it makes me think the link is the problem and not the Apache config. Are you sure it is not broken or the target drive is not mounted properly? For a file on a seperate drive ls -l should show, for example:

-rw-r--r-- 1 user group size date time link_name -> /drive/mount/point/path/to/file/file_name

If it does not then you should remake the link using:

rm link_name
ln -s /drive/mount/point/path/to/file/file_name link_name

If the link is pointing to the right place, perhaps the target drive is not mounted. Remount it and try again. Best of luck!

Apache does not show and does not follow SymLinks

3 Answers3