How to give apache permission to write to home directory?

Question

My server is in /var/www/html I have a php script in /var/www/html/fileio_test/io_test.php

<?php

$logging = <<< LOG
This is a test
LOG;

$testfile = fopen('/home/djameson/test.txt', 'a'); 
fwrite ($testfile, $logging);
fclose($testfile);

?>

When I try to run this script I get

Warning: fopen(/home/djameson/test.txt): failed to open stream: Permission denied in   /var/www/html/fileio_test/io_test.php on line 7

Warning: fwrite() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given in /var/www/html/fileio_test/io_test.php on line 8

Warning: fclose() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given in /var/www/html/fileio_test/io_test.php on line 9

How do I let apache write to my home directory? The server runs on fedora 20.

Answer 1

As your file residing in your Home directory, I would suggest one of following approaches.

1. Give 0777 permission to file itself.

   chmod 0777 /home/djameson/test.txt
   

2. Change Ownership to apache user www-data and give owner-write permission.

   sudo chown www-data:www-data /home/djameson/test.txt
   chmod 0744 /home/djameson/test.txt
   

3. Add your user to www-data group or vice-verse add www-data user to your group. And then group write permission.

   sudo usermod -a -G www-data djameson
   chmod 0764 /home/djameson/test.txt
   

NOTE : I am assuming apache user name & group name is www-data & www-data respectively. You must change accordingly your server apache username/group name.