title: 403 Forbidden on symlink in web root
body: <p>I am on a shared hosting package on a LAMP stack with no shell access.</p>
  
  <p>I can create symlinks using PHP's <code>symlink()</code> function.</p>
  
  <p>Let's say my web root is <code>/home/www/user1/public</code></p>
  
  <p>Let's say I have a real directory named <code>/home/www/user1/public/real_dir</code></p>
  
  <p>And I create a symlink named <code>/home/www/user1/public/fake_dir</code> pointing to <code>real_dir</code> </p>
  
  <p>Why would I get a <strong>403 Forbidden</strong> when trying to access <code>www.mydomain.com/fake_dir</code> but not when trying to access <code>www.mydomain.com/real_dir</code>?</p>
  
  <p>It shouldn't be a rights problem because when I create a file in PHP, I can access that all right.</p>
  
  <p>I tried switching <code>FollowSymlinks</code> off and on in .htaccess (it was on), but no luck.</p>
  
  <p>Could it be that <code>FollowSymlinks</code> is defined as not overwritable in a .htaccess file? Or is there something else to be aware of when working with Symlinks in Apache?</p>