I broke my Laravel app root and can't figure out how or why

@Hondaman900

For checking php version and modules: create phpinfo.php in current root folder which being served (in public) phpinfo.php content

<?php

phpinfo();

?>

save file, then type in browser URL/phpinfo.php , this will show information and modules, php version and document root can be verified.

check htaccess rewrite , document here (copy paste in browser URL bar)

acquia.my.site.com/s/article/360004303994-Basic-rewrite-rule-examples

@Hondaman900 Not seen that before, I am on Linux

try

php artisan cache:clear

I checked using this..

Auth::routes(['register' => false]);
Route::get('phpmyinfo', function () {
    phpinfo();
})->name('phpmyinfo');

shows correct for me

$_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']	/home/suds/laravel/dev/public
_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']	/home/suds/laravel/dev/public/index.php

@Hondaman900 Which results do you get when you delete the storage symlink folder from public folder ?

@technofreaks clearing cache and/or config makes no diff. I added the route you suggested and it doesn't work (Not Found). None of my routes work. If I run phpinfo.php (by clicking on it in the exposed file listing) I get

$_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']	C:/laragon/www/stripe-laravel/public
$_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']	C:/laragon/www/stripe-laravel/public/storage/phpinfo.php

@gych I don't have a symlink folder (Windows) but I can see the "symlink" for storage in the config\filesystems.php file. It's the same however as my other working Laravel apps:

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Default Filesystem Disk
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | Here you may specify the default filesystem disk that should be used
    | by the framework. The "local" disk, as well as a variety of cloud
    | based disks are available to your application. Just store away!
    |
    */

    'default' => env('FILESYSTEM_DRIVER', 'local'),

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Filesystem Disks
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | Here you may configure as many filesystem "disks" as you wish, and you
    | may even configure multiple disks of the same driver. Defaults have
    | been setup for each driver as an example of the required options.
    |
    | Supported Drivers: "local", "ftp", "sftp", "s3"
    |
    */

    'disks' => [

        'local' => [
            'driver' => 'local',
            'root' => storage_path('app'),
        ],

        'public' => [
            'driver' => 'local',
            'root' => storage_path('app/public'),
            'url' => env('APP_URL').'/storage',
            'visibility' => 'public',
        ],

        's3' => [
            'driver' => 's3',
            'key' => env('AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID'),
            'secret' => env('AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY'),
            'region' => env('AWS_DEFAULT_REGION'),
            'bucket' => env('AWS_BUCKET'),
            'url' => env('AWS_URL'),
            'endpoint' => env('AWS_ENDPOINT'),
            'use_path_style_endpoint' => env('AWS_USE_PATH_STYLE_ENDPOINT', false),
        ],

    ],

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Symbolic Links
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | Here you may configure the symbolic links that will be created when the
    | `storage:link` Artisan command is executed. The array keys should be
    | the locations of the links and the values should be their targets.
    |
    */

    'links' => [
        public_path('storage') => storage_path('app/public'),
    ],

@Hondaman900 If you use php artisan storage:link, a symbolic link between storage/app/public and public/storage is created.

I also use Laragon on Windows for my projects and I have a symbolic link between those two folders. Try to delete the storage folder from your public folder and see which results you get after that.

@gych My apologies, I do see the symlink/shortcut file in my app's 'public' folder.

Deleting it just removes it from the browser file listing. Renaming it shows the new name and clicking it still goes to the real storage folder. Removing or renaming the actual storage folder gives a 'Forbidden' error when the link is clicked.

The correct way for this to work is that the symlink redirects the browser to the storage folder. There's no redirection and the files are all exposed. Not sure if Laravel or Apache is broken, or both.

I'm starting to think I may have to start over.

@Randy_Johnson Unfortunately I don't have a backup. This was an isolated test site to get Stripe webhooks working and I could start over, though that would loose me a day or so. I was hoping to locate some single dumb misplaced configuration that would fix this and I could move forward. I also feel the need to figure out what happened and learn from that. I usually manage my projects with SourceTree and Bitbucket, but at the time this quick test didn't warrant that, until it grew and did. I'm now kicking myself for not doing so.

Not sure what 2 files you refer to. My app/public only has the phpinfo.php I just put in there (see above). Otherwise it's empty.

@Hondaman900 @randy is wrong.

Look, as I said, your apache server should serve the public folder as the document root.

The public folder should contain the index.php file and the .htaccess file. There should be NO OTHER index.php or .htaccess

You should have ONE symlink. This is the one that connects storage/app/public to public/storage. If you are not saving anything in the storage/app/public folder then you can ignore this step.

@Hondaman900 more signs that your document root is not set correctly