Sorry, I still don’t get it.
Here’s my <directory> from httpd.conf:
# forbid access to the entire filesystem by default
<Directory />
Options None
AllowOverride None
Order deny,allow
Deny from all
</Directory>
# use .htaccess files for overriding,
AccessFileName .htaccess
# and never show them
<Files ~ "^\.ht">
Order allow,deny
Deny from all
</Files>
and here’s my default-server.conf:
DocumentRoot "/srv/www/htdocs"
#
# Configure the DocumentRoot
#
<Directory "/srv/www/htdocs">
# Possible values for the Options directive are "None", "All",
# or any combination of:
# Indexes Includes FollowSymLinks SymLinksifOwnerMatch ExecCGI MultiViews
#
# Note that "MultiViews" must be named *explicitly* --- "Options All"
# doesn't give it to you.
#
# The Options directive is both complicated and important. Please see
# http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.2/mod/core.html#options
# for more information.
Options None
# AllowOverride controls what directives may be placed in .htaccess files.
# It can be "All", "None", or any combination of the keywords:
# Options FileInfo AuthConfig Limit
AllowOverride None
# Controls who can get stuff from this server.
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
If I simply change ‘AllowOverride None’ to ‘AllowOverride all’, I get “Access forbidden! You don’t have permission to access the requested directory. There is either no index document or the directory is read-protected.”
If I put this:
<Directory "/srv/www/htdocs/linuxoid/c5">
AllowOverride All
</Directory>
or this:
<Directory "/srv/www/htdocs/linuxoid/c5">
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
or this (copying the .htaccess into the config):
<Directory "/srv/www/htdocs/linuxoid/c5">
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /linuxoid/c5/
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php/$1 [L]
</Directory>
into any of the config files, I still get “Access forbidden…” but only for the c5 directory, I can get to the root though.
I thought I’ve used Suse for ages but only have 200 posts 
(of course I admit I don’t live in this forum, but still…)