PHP cannot create directories in htdocs folder

[noah1]

Keywords: LAMP/MAMP/WAMP - AWS - Technical issue - Services (Apache, MariaDB, MySQL…)

bndiagnostic ID: a12a4d3c-fd98-6aac-0a78-abda86c330e4

bndiagnostic output:

? Apache: Found possible issues
? Resources: Found possible issues
https://docs.bitnami.com/general/apps/wordpress/troubleshooting/debug-errors-apache/

bndiagnostic failure reason: The suggested guides are not related with my issue

Description:
I’ve got a bitnami lamp stack on a lightsail instance and I need to be able to execute makedir from PHP but i can’t seem to get the permissions working on htdocs without doing 777. I’ve got the system user (bitnami) and the php user (daemon) in a group that owns htdocs, but i still get this error when i try to execute:

Got error 'PHP message: PHP Warning: mkdir(): Permission denied in /opt/bitnami/apache/htdocs/DP_PPEngine/dp_first_pp.php on line 19

Any help much appreciated!

[michiel]

Hi @noah1,

Please check the following guide that explains how to reset permissions:

https://docs.bitnami.com/aws/apps/wordpress/administration/understand-file-permissions/

Regards,
Michiel

[noah1]

Thanks michael, I appreciate your help.

I’m afraid the basic bitnami permission set doesn’t let php make directories within htdocs in the bitnami lightsail lamp stack. I went ahead and set the permissions using the steps in that guide you sent, and i still get “Got error 'PHP message: PHP Warning: mkdir(): Permission denied” when php tries to execute makedir() in htdocs.
Any thoughts or help would be much appreciated!

[michiel]

Hi @noah1,

Can you launch a fresh LAMP instance and run a PHP script that uses mkdir? Does that show the same error?

Regards,
Michiel

[noah1]

Hi @michiel ,

Yes, I’m afraid so: Got error 'PHP message: PHP Warning: mkdir(): Permission denied.

[michiel]

Hi @noah1,

Could you send a snippet example? I will try to reproduce it.

Regards,
Michiel

[noah1]

Sure thing, thank you! Here’s a simplified version for reproducing the issue:

<?php $directory = '/opt/bitnami/apache2/htdocs/testdirectory'; //create directory mkdir($directory); ?>

And here’s the whole block from our code:

<?php $directory = '/opt/bitnami/apache2/htdocs/'.$_POST['slug']; //check if directory exists, and if so return error if ( is_dir( $directory ) ) { echo "exists"; die(); } mkdir($directory); //place files in directory //index $source = '/opt/bitnami/apache/htdocs/defaults/index.php'; $destination = '/opt/bitnami/apache/htdocs/'.$_POST['slug'].'/index.php'; copy( $source, $destination ); //template $source = '/opt/bitnami/apache/htdocs/defaults/template.html'; $destination = '/opt/bitnami/apache/htdocs/'.$_POST['slug'].'/template.html'; copy( $source, $destination ); ?>

[noah1]

Sorry, here it is better formatted:

Simplified:

<?php
$directory = '/opt/bitnami/apache2/htdocs/testDirectory';
mkdir($directory);
?>

Full code:

<?php
    $directory = '/opt/bitnami/apache2/htdocs/'.$_POST['slug'];
    //check if directory exists, and if so return error
    if ( is_dir( $directory ) ) {
      echo "exists";
      die();
    }
    mkdir($directory);

    //place files in directory
    //index
    $source = '/opt/bitnami/apache/htdocs/defaults/index.php';
    $destination = '/opt/bitnami/apache/htdocs/'.$_POST['slug'].'/index.php';
    copy( $source, $destination );
    //template
    $source = '/opt/bitnami/apache/htdocs/defaults/template.html';
    $destination = '/opt/bitnami/apache/htdocs/'.$_POST['slug'].'/template.html';
    copy( $source, $destination );
?>

[michiel]

Hi @noah1,

Try this:

cd /opt/bitnami/apache/htdocs/
sudo mkdir test
sudo chmod 755 test
sudo chown daemon:daemon test

And then:

<?php
$directory = '/opt/bitnami/apache2/htdocs/test/testDirectory';
mkdir($directory);
?>

Best regards,
Michiel

[noah1]

@michiel Thank you! That worked fine, and so I did the same thing for htdocs:

sudo chmod 755 htdocs
sudo chown daemon:daemon htdocs

The only problem is that now I can’t delete files in htdocs via FTP using the bitnami user. Would you recommend a solution that would allow php to make directories, but allow me to edit them via FTP? Thank you!

• Noah

[michiel]

Hi @noah1,

Could you try changing the owner to bitnami but the group to daemon?

sudo chown bitnami:daemon htdocs

Regards,
Michiel

[noah1]

@michiel Thanks! I’m afraid mkdir() gets “permission denied” again after switching ownership to bitnami:daemon. I switched it back to daemon:daemon and it’s working fine again, but no ftp access.

Any other thoughts? Thanks so much for your help!

[michiel]

Hi @noah1,

I suggest changing the permissions when you need to use SFTP. I also recommend asking in an SFTP forum to check if there is another way to do that.

Regards,
Michiel