title: apache says my DocumentRoot directory doesn't exist
body: <p>I am using Phusion Passenger to deploy a rails application using apache2 on CentOS 5.5.  For some reason, I keep getting this message when I start up apache:</p>
  
  <p><code>> service start httpd<br>
  Starting httpd: Warning: DocumentRoot [/home/deploy/my_app/public] does not exist<br>
  [  OK  ]</code></p>
  
  <p>The directory most certainly does exist.  Here are some important files from my configuration:  </p>
  
  <p>/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf<br>
  ...<br>
  User deploy<br>
  Group deploy<br>
  ...  </p>
  
  <p>/etc/httpd/conf.d/my_app.conf
  <code><br>
  &lt; VirtualHost *:80><br>
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ServerName my_app.com<br>
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;DocumentRoot /home/deploy/my_app/public<br>
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&lt; Directory /home/deploy/my_app/public><br>
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Allow from all<br>
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Options -MultiViews<br>
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&lt; /Directory><br>
  &lt; /VirtualHost>
  </code></p>
  
  <p>The directories /home/deploy, /home/deploy/my_app, and /home/deploy/my_app/public all belong to the deploy user.</p>