(13)Permission denied: /home/username/.htaccess pcfg_openfile: unable to check htaccess file, ensure it is readable

When viewing your domain, if you see the error "Forbidden" and then check your apache logs:
/var/log/httpd/error_log
/var/log/httpd/domains/domain.com.error.log

and see the error:

[crit] [client 1.2.3.4] (13)Permission denied: /home/username/.htaccess pcfg_openfile: unable to check htaccess file, ensure it is readable

it would imply that apache does not have read access on your /home/username directory.

The cause for this can be permission related, config related or ownership related.

Apache runs as user "apache", thus the directory must be +x for that user or group.

1) As of DirectAdmin 1.38.0, we implement the secure_acccess_group feature, which will set the /home/user (for Users) to chmod 750 and chown username:access. Â The apache user will be in the "access" group. Â To confirm this, type the following:

[root@server]#Â grep ^access: /etc/group
access:x:506:apache,nobody,mail,majordomo,daemon

and you should get something similar to the output shown.

If you get a blank list of Users, then the access group exists, but is empty. Â To correctly fill the group (on RedHat/CentOS/Debian systems), type:

usermod -G access apache
usermod -G access nobody
usermod -G access mail
usermod -G access majordomo
usermod -G access daemon

on FreeBSD systems, the command to create the group is:

pw groupadd -n access -M apache,nobody,mail,majordomo,daemon

but this implies the group doesn't yet exist. Â This case has not been seen on FreeBSD, so likely won't be needed.

2) The error has also been reported for Users who use mod_ruid. Â Ensure that all 4 virtual_host2*.conf files have the mod_ruid code set. Â Referenced thread from the forum.