Local dev setup

[monsto]

i used xampp (http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html) to setup my dev environment on my home windows box. pretty painless. I'm not a complete newb to this stuff, but i figure why reinvent the wheel with an installation when one installer will put it all together and config it for me?

so anyway, it installed fine. I moved my previous local apache setup to the xampp directories (my local usemod wiki works on localhost:8000). the installed phpmyadmin works, which means php is running. i verified that mysql is running.

i modified the httpd.conf as follows

NameVirtualHost *:80
<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot "/xampp/htdocs"
ServerName localhost
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin [e-mail]
DocumentRoot "E:/BT#*$!/cheggit/subversions/trackersite/site"
ServerName chip.cheggit.net
ErrorLog "Y:/xampp/apache/logs/chip.cheggit.net.errors"
CustomLog "Y:/xampp/apache/logs/chip.cheggit.net.access" common
<Directory />
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
</Directory>
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}!-f
RewriteRule ^/$ /handler.php?page=index [L]
RewriteRule ^/([^\.]*)(\.php)$ /handler.php?page=$1 [QSA]
</VirtualHost>

(the rewrite bit is necc for the site)

the result:
[localhost...] shows a dir listing with the one file thats in that directory: wiki.css. all the localhost alias' work fine.

[chip.cheggit.net...] returns

Access forbidden!

You don't have permission to access the requested directory. There is either no index document or the directory is read-protected.

yes. permissions. thanks. i get that. so i've tried/checked the following to no effect.

the apache service was originally running as 'me' and i have administrator rights.

set it to "run as" administrator

inside the cheggit vhost def, set <Directory "E:/BT#*$!/cheggit/subversions/trackersite/site">

set E:/BT#*$!/cheggit/subversions/trackersite/site archive bit (grasping at this point)

changed the docroot to a dir on the local drive (y:)

changed the localhost docroot in both the httpd.conf and the vserver up there to a different dir.

bottom line is that the only directory that apache will serve without that error is /xampp/htdocs. On top of all the admin crap (if apache can't use the dirs as me, i shouldn't be able to use them either) This is the icing that makes me believe that it's not a permission thing but still a config thing.

PLEASE don't suggest "checking permissions" unless you happen to know the double super secret location of the place on windows where the apache installer went to lock out every directory but this one.

It's not really important as to what can make this work. It's the php that the site runs on that's important. so workarounds that get this to work out of the specified subversion directory would be highly welcome.

[monsto]

here's some new info:

there's several alias' defined for phpmyadmin,the credits and a couple other things. /phpmyadmin goes to the path /xampp/phpmyadmin

when i try to create an alias to a newly created directory, i get the perms error. when i use phpmyadmin as the target for the subdomain, it works.