[gentoo-user] USERDIR problem with apache on new install

[Allan Gottlieb <gottlieb@nyu.edu>]

On my new install USERDIR is not working.

When I try http://localhost/~gottlieb, firefox says
  "you don't have permission to access /~gottlieb"
and the apache error log says
  "client denied by server configuration: /local/allan/gottlieb/public_html"

The file permissions are ok since both
  file:///home/gottlieb/public_html/index.html and
  file:///home/gottlieb/public_html
work fine.

So I guess I screwed up the apache install, in particular USERDIR.

eix shows userdir (see below)

/etc/conf.d/apache2 has it (see below, diffs = with my working install)

I have restarted apache, shutdown the machine overnight, reinstalled
apache, but still no go.

What step did I foolishly miss?

thanks,
allan

================================================================

newlap gottlieb # eix -e apache
[I] www-servers/apache
     Available versions:  (2) 2.2.22-r1 [M](~)2.4.2
	{{debug doc ldap selinux ssl static suexec threads APACHE2_MODULES="actions alias asis auth_basic auth_digest authn_alias authn_anon authn_dbd authn_dbm authn_default authn_file authz_dbm authz_default authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache cern_meta cgi cgid charset_lite dav dav_fs dav_lock dbd deflate dir disk_cache dumpio env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers ident imagemap include info log_config log_forensic logio mem_cache mime mime_magic negotiation proxy proxy_ajp proxy_balancer proxy_connect proxy_ftp proxy_http proxy_scgi reqtimeout rewrite setenvif speling status substitute unique_id userdir usertrack version vhost_alias" APACHE2_MPMS="event itk peruser prefork worker"}}
     Installed versions:  2.2.22-r1(2)(10:23:21 PM 09/28/2012)(ldap ssl -debug -doc -selinux -static -suexec -threads APACHE2_MODULES="actions alias auth_basic authn_alias authn_anon authn_dbm authn_default authn_file authz_dbm authz_default authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache cgi cgid dav dav_fs dav_lock deflate dir disk_cache env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers include info log_config logio mem_cache mime mime_magic negotiation rewrite setenvif speling status unique_id userdir usertrack vhost_alias -asis -auth_digest -authn_dbd -cern_meta -charset_lite -dbd -dumpio -ident -imagemap -log_forensic -proxy -proxy_ajp -proxy_balancer -proxy_connect -proxy_ftp -proxy_http -proxy_scgi -reqtimeout -substitute -version" APACHE2_MPMS="-event -itk -peruser -prefork -worker")
     Homepage:            http://httpd.apache.org/
     Description:         The Apache Web Server.


newlap gottlieb # cat /etc/conf.d/apache2
# /etc/conf.d/apache2: config file for /etc/init.d/apache2

# ajg: Added support for USERDIR, i.e., ~/public_html

# When you install a module it is easy to activate or deactivate the modules
# and other features of apache using the APACHE2_OPTS line. Every module should
# install a configuration in /etc/apache2/modules.d. In that file will be an
# <IfDefine NNN> directive where NNN is the option to enable that module.
#
# Here are the options available in the default configuration:
#
#  AUTH_DIGEST  Enables mod_auth_digest
#  AUTHNZ_LDAP  Enables authentication through mod_ldap (available if USE=ldap)
#  CACHE        Enables mod_cache
#  DAV          Enables mod_dav
#  ERRORDOCS    Enables default error documents for many languages.
#  INFO         Enables mod_info, a useful module for debugging
#  LANGUAGE     Enables content-negotiation based on language and charset.
#  LDAP         Enables mod_ldap (available if USE=ldap)
#  MANUAL       Enables /manual/ to be the apache manual (available if USE=docs)
#  MEM_CACHE    Enables default configuration mod_mem_cache
#  PROXY        Enables mod_proxy
#  SSL          Enables SSL (available if USE=ssl)
#  STATUS       Enabled mod_status, a useful module for statistics
#  SUEXEC       Enables running CGI scripts (in USERDIR) through suexec.
#  USERDIR      Enables /~username mapping to /home/username/public_html
#
#
# The following two options provide the default virtual host for the HTTP and
# HTTPS protocol. YOU NEED TO ENABLE AT LEAST ONE OF THEM, otherwise apache
# will not listen for incomming connections on the approriate port.
#
#  DEFAULT_VHOST      Enables name-based virtual hosts, with the default
#                     virtual host being in /var/www/localhost/htdocs
#  SSL_DEFAULT_VHOST  Enables default vhost for SSL (you should enable this
#                     when you enable SSL)
#
APACHE2_OPTS="-D DEFAULT_VHOST -D USERDIR -D INFO -D SSL -D SSL_DEFAULT_VHOST -D LANGUAGE"

# Extended options for advanced uses of Apache ONLY
# You don't need to edit these unless you are doing crazy Apache stuff
# As not having them set correctly, or feeding in an incorrect configuration
# via them will result in Apache failing to start
# YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

# PID file
#PIDFILE=/var/run/apache2.pid

# timeout for startup/shutdown checks
#TIMEOUT=10

# ServerRoot setting
#SERVERROOT=/usr/lib64/apache2

# Configuration file location
# - If this does NOT start with a '/', then it is treated relative to
# $SERVERROOT by Apache
#CONFIGFILE=/etc/apache2/httpd.conf

# Location to log startup errors to
# They are normally dumped to your terminal.
#STARTUPERRORLOG="/var/log/apache2/startuperror.log"

# A command that outputs a formatted text version of the HTML at the URL
# of the command line. Designed for lynx, however other programs may work.
#LYNX="lynx -dump"

# The URL to your server's mod_status status page.
# Required for status and fullstatus
#STATUSURL="http://localhost/server-status"

# Method to use when reloading the server
# Valid options are 'restart' and 'graceful'
# See http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/stopping.html for information on
# what they do and how they differ.
#RELOAD_TYPE="graceful"
newlap gottlieb #