I'm getting some strange problems with apache. I'm running it just as a local host to set up a web site and its forum before I transfer decide what web host I'll use.

I'm running Mandrake LInux 10.0 with Apache and PHP 4.3.4 and MySQL something or other...

Now, I initially had problems with PHP but that was before I realised I hadn't installed the module for PHP support in Apache... now the php works, to an extent...

My www folder is in /var/www and in the www folder I have a html folder... if I place a php script in there such as my phpinfo.php script (which is <?php phpinfo(); ?> )... http://localhost/phpinfo.php will tell me all my info about the php version, and info about apache and such.

Now to the problem:

I'm trying to set up the forum... the forum has been placed in a folder in /var/www/smf/. Now... I should be able to access the .php script to configure it (install.php) by the link http://localhost/smf/install.php. (I'm using small machine forum... I'm also trying with phpBB and it doesn't work, which is why I suspect errors in the apache config).

Mozilla tries to download the .php script and other web browsers get 404 errors. Why is apache not dealing with it... is there somewhere else I need to place the folder, or what?

Hopefully that's enough info...

Ok, to answer my own question... the forum folders needed to be placed in my html folder (/var/www/html/<forum folder>... for some strange reason I thought I'd tried it and failed, but that was probably before I fixed up php with apache... ;-)

That said, Mozilla still say it doesn't know what to do with the .php file for the small machines forum... but other browsers work fine...

I must post in forums more often... it seems every time I do... I find the answer not long after, and without getting a reply from my post...