permission problems affecting above root file reads

[jack2006]

Hi guys this is my first post.

After spending a few weeks reading everything I could find i;m basically where i began this problem solving mission.

 

I have run into what appears to be a w/r permission issue on my vps (powervps) and they havent been much help.

 

This began when i first attempted to install elgg on my server. Everything went smooth including upgrading to php 5.2.

Once the script was installed i had to set up a data folder outside of the root. I did that without a hitch but when the script ran and tried to upload files to that directory it failed. I changed all permissions to 777 etc. and I managed to get as far as uploading files to the folder but they would refuse to be read back by the script (picture files). So they were on the server in the data folder but the script could not access them to display them. Thats when i gave up on elgg since nobody knew what my problem was and how to fix it.

 

I now have run into a similar issue with virtue mart for joomla. I am setting up a store that will sell virtual goods (mp3 etc.) and virtuemart needs again a folder outside of root to keep the downloadable files in. But again it seems that I can't write to it or read it. When i manually add a file to the folder using ftp it's there but again virutemart fails to read it. (I set up the path in the script correctly to point to that folder).

 

I am stumped i tried everything i could think of to solve this but nothing.

 

I am now thinking it must be some apache restriction which i must enable or something in the htaccess file.

 

Anybody got any ideas, this would actually not only help me but others who are experiancing the same issues in those scripts (there are a few of us).

 

Cheers,

Jack