Apache and linux file permissions can't browse file or directories

Question

I just copied my magento site over to a local server running CentOS 5.4. The browser said it can't locate the location of the stylesheets. The stylesheets are within /skin/frontend/my_new_interface/design2/css. I tried to view in the browser and I can't view any of the files within the css directory. I verified a million times that I'm typing in the correct location. I can view files within /skin/frontend/my_new_interface/design2. Can't browse directories within browser however.

I typed in ls -l css

and get:

-rwxr-xr-x 1 apache apache

listed for all the files

I tried chmod -R 755 and the directories

I changed the apache conf Options Indexes

But still when I browse the directories I get Forbidden. However, in another fresh installation of magento in the same www dir, I am able to browse directories. As far as I can tell both installations have same ownership and permissions.

I also tried

find . -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
find . -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;

which was recommended in the magento wiki

I've just run out of ideas.

Answer 1

You'll need to add Options +Indexes to your httpd.conf or in a .htaccess file in the css/ folder to view the folder contents through the browser. This is bad ju-ju though. Do you really need to switch this on, or can you keep doing it through the ssh session?

On the CSS file note, can you type pwd when in the CSS directory? That'll help us confirm you've got the correct location. Do you get "Forbidden" when you try to view the CSS file directory, or just when you try to view the directory contents?

Answer 2

The file permission were set up correctly. I figured out that the .htaccess had a rewrite rule set for the css directory that was causing the problem. I inherited this site and am still not aware of all the little modifications done throughout.