PHP Include Always Fails

Question

• Apache HTTP Server 2.2.21 with VirtualHosts under SuExec
• PHP 5.3.8 via fcgid
• Arch Linux 2011.08.19

I am in the process of migrating from shared hosting to VPS. The code I had ran fine before the move but is now failing at this line:

require_once($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . 'includes/content/header.php');

Error log says:

PHP Fatal error: require_once(): Failed opening required '/srv/www/hostname/public/includes/content/header.php' (include_path='.:/usr/share/pear') in /srv/www/hostname/public/index.php on line 3

I tried the same line without the document root part, with and without ./, etc. with no luck. No difference with require, include_once, or include, either. Yet, I can verify that the file exists at that exact location by copy-pasting from the error log and cding to it…

But just to be absolutely sure, I tested the return values of the includes as well as file_exists—they all return false. Yet all of the files are chown'd by the SuExec user/group, and no combination of permissions helps (on directories or files); have tried from 644 to 777. What's going on here?

Edit:

• Same result with files in the same directory.
• Apache & SuExec error logs reports nothing.
• Safe Mode is set to "Off" in php.ini.
• dirname(__FILE__) and exec('pwd') return the same as $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] but without the trailing slash.
• fread, file_get_contents, and realpath(dirname(__FILE__)) all return false.
• set_include_path() has no effect.
• Running require via php-cgi directly from the command line returns Internal Server Error while include returns blank output; running either via php returns blank output.

Here's my vhost config:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin admin@hostname.com
    DocumentRoot "/srv/www/hostname/public/"
    ServerName hostname.com
    ServerAlias www.hostname.com
    SuexecUserGroup hostname hostname
    ErrorLog "/srv/www/hostname/logs/error.log"
    LogLevel debug
    CustomLog "/srv/www/hostname/logs/access.log" combined

    <Directory /srv/www/hostname/public>
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
    </Directory>

    # http://www.linode.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2982
    <IfModule !mod_php5.c>
    <IfModule !mod_php5_filter.c>
    <IfModule !mod_php5_hooks.c>
    <IfModule mod_actions.c>
    <IfModule mod_alias.c>
    <IfModule mod_mime.c>
    <IfModule mod_fcgid.c>
        AddHandler php-fcgi .php
        Action php-fcgi /fcgid-bin/php-fcgid-wrapper
        Alias /fcgid-bin/ /srv/www/hostname/fcgid-bin/

        <Location /fcgid-bin/>
            SetHandler fcgid-script
            Options +ExecCGI
            Order allow,deny
            Allow from all
        </Location>

        ReWriteEngine On
        ReWriteRule ^/fcgid-bin/[^/]*$ / [PT]
    </IfModule>
    </IfModule>
    </IfModule>
    </IfModule>
    </IfModule>
    </IfModule>
    </IfModule>
</VirtualHost>

Answer 1

Circling back to post the solution:

I didn't realize that open_basedir was unaffected by Safe Mode being off—it was looking in /srv/http/ but not /srv/www/, which would be the containing directory for /srv/www/hostname/public/includes/content/.

Answer 2

First make sure the file exists...

• Then try to navigate to it using www.hostname/public/includes/content/header.php (if your using something local it would be localhost/public/includes/content/header.php)
• If that does not load either something is wrong with your installation or your file is corrupt.
• Try loading the header from somewhere else

Answer 3

Did you check permission of folders containg that files ?

Folder should has read permission for apache (or any user that runs http-server).

Have you try add path to include path ?

$path = '/includes/content';
set_include_path(get_include_path() . PATH_SEPARATOR . $path);

http://php.net/manual/en/function.set-include-path.php

Answer 4

It always works to me ->

if ( DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR == '/' )
{
    $path = dirname(__FILE__).'/';
}
else
{
    $path = str_replace('\\', '/', dirname(__FILE__)).'/';
}

give a try!

[EDITED]

using dirname() function always works! $path = dirname(__FILE__).'/'; perhaps the problem is in your server. Not in the programming (script).

Answer 5

DerfK over at ServerFault nailed it: it was an open_basedir restriction.