The Options directive controls which server features are available in a particular directory.

option can be set to None , in which case none of the extra features are enabled, or one or more of the following:

All

All options except for MultiViews .

ExecCGI

Execution of CGI scripts using mod_cgi is permitted.

FollowSymLinks

The server will follow symbolic links in this directory. This is the default setting.

Even though the server follows the symlink it does not change the pathname used to match against <Directory> sections.

The FollowSymLinks and SymLinksIfOwnerMatch Options work only in <Directory> sections or .htaccess files.

Omitting this option should not be considered a security restriction, since symlink testing is subject to race conditions that make it circumventable.

Includes

Server-side includes provided by mod_include are permitted.

IncludesNOEXEC

Server-side includes are permitted, but the #exec cmd and #exec cgi are disabled. It is still possible to #include virtual CGI scripts from ScriptAlias ed directories.

Indexes

If a URL which maps to a directory is requested and there is no DirectoryIndex (e.g., index.html ) in that directory, then mod_autoindex will return a formatted listing of the directory.

MultiViews

Content negotiated "MultiViews" are allowed using mod_negotiation .

Note

This option gets ignored if set anywhere other than <Directory> , as mod_negotiation needs real resources to compare against and evaluate from.

SymLinksIfOwnerMatch

The server will only follow symbolic links for which the target file or directory is owned by the same user id as the link.

Note

The FollowSymLinks and SymLinksIfOwnerMatch Options work only in <Directory> sections or .htaccess files.

This option should not be considered a security restriction, since symlink testing is subject to race conditions that make it circumventable.

Normally, if multiple Options could apply to a directory, then the most specific one is used and others are ignored; the options are not merged. (See how sections are merged.) However if all the options on the Options directive are preceded by a + or - symbol, the options are merged. Any options preceded by a + are added to the options currently in force, and any options preceded by a - are removed from the options currently in force.

For example, without any + and - symbols:

<Directory "/web/docs">
 Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
</Directory>
<Directory "/web/docs/spec">
 Options Includes
</Directory>

then only Includes will be set for the /web/docs/spec directory. However if the second Options directive uses the + and - symbols:

<Directory "/web/docs">
 Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
</Directory>
<Directory "/web/docs/spec">
 Options +Includes -Indexes
</Directory>

then the options FollowSymLinks and Includes are set for the /web/docs/spec directory.

The default in the absence of any other settings is FollowSymlinks .