file_exists() works in apache root but not in subdirectory

Question

I have installed ispconfig3. Ive added a website but when i try to install elgg in /var/www/clients/client1/web5/web/, it fails because file_exists() returns false when looking for the directory /var/www/clients/client1/web5/data/. When i check from a php file in the root, it finds the directory. I have changed all the permissions for the parent folders but ist still failing. Ispconfig3 uses symlink to link my domain to that directory, maybe thats causing the problem...

Answer 1

As written in the docs

Warning. This function returns FALSE for files inaccessible due to safe mode restrictions. However these files still can be included if they are located in safe_mode_include_dir.