Can't access repo: 403 Forbidden

[mm]

Hello everyone

I'm a new user trying to use Minarca, I set up everything and run a backup

From the webUI I can't access the repository, I have this message:

Oops!
403 Forbidden
Sorry, an error has occured.
Request forbidden -- authorization will not help

in logs I see

[2025-09-14 11:08:34,250][ERROR  ][192.168.78.100][backupUser][CP Server Thread-4][cherrypy.error.140583970946896] HTTP
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "cherrypy/_cprequest.py", line 659, in respond
  File "cherrypy/_cprequest.py", line 718, in _do_respond
  File "cherrypy/lib/encoding.py", line 223, in __call__
  File "cherrypy/_cpdispatch.py", line 54, in __call__
  File "rdiffweb/controller/page_browse.py", line 50, in default
  File "rdiffweb/core/librdiff.py", line 959, in listdir
rdiffweb.core.librdiff.AccessDeniedError:  make reference outside the repository

in /etc/minarca/minarca-server.conf I set

minarca-user-base-dir=/data/backups
minarca_home_dir=/data/backups

What's wrong?
Thanks
MM

[mm]

I solved! The SQLite db wasn't updated after I changed the repository,

after edited it I can access. I think that in the DB it should save relative paths and not absolute.

[Patrik Dufresne]

Hello mm,

Glad to hear you solved it!

Just to clarify the behavior you observed — this is the expected one:

• minarca-user-base-dir defines the root directory under which all users’ repositories must live. It’s a security boundary: anything that resolves outside that base will be denied, which is why you saw “403 Forbidden” and “make reference outside the repository.”
• Each user’s home/repository directory should be nested under that base. For example:
  • minarca-user-base-dir = /data/backups
  • user “Patrik” home = /data/backups/<patrik>
• The database stores repository locations as relative paths from user's home. If the base directory changes, the saved relative paths stay valid; but if a user home or repo is placed outside the base, access will be blocked.

In your case, make sure that the user’s home_dir is a subdirectory of /data/backups (e.g., /data/backups/<username>).

Thanks for the report and for closing the loop!

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