readfile()

I'm trying to use readfile() to allow a user to download a file that is outside of my webroot. webroot = /var/www/html downloads dir = /var/www/downloads Here is the code that I have been using: $file = "/var/www/downloads/test.txt"; header("Content-Description: File Transfer"); header("Content-Type: application/force-download"); header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=".basename($file)); readfile($file); This code will work if I change the path to the webroot path, but not the downloads dir path. I get an error saying "Unable to access" and then "failed to open stream: No such file or directory". I have given whe I believe is the correct rights for the downloads dir and also the file...rwxr-xr-x for both. Anyone have any idea why this isnt working? Thanks, Aaron