PHP Won't Access Files Outside Web Root (Leopard/MacOS X 10.5)

Ave, Somehow my PHP won't access, won't even acknowledge the existence of a file that is outside the /Library/WebServer/Documents folder. This was never a a problem before in any Mac version - it just started with Leopard. I don't know what has changed where, in httpd.conf or php.ini or somewhere else, but something changed that's crippling access to files outside of the webserver. This Works in Mac OS X 10.3.9 (i.e., prints File Exists) but the same exact script does not work in Mac OS X 10.5, and yes, the file is available in Leopard in the mentioned location - path is exact same - permissions are all set: $filename = "/Users/username/Documents/Transfers/test.txt"; if (file_exists($filename)) { echo "The file $filename exists<br><br>"; } else { echo "The file $filename does not exist<br><br>"; } I¹ve already checked safe_mode which is Off and open_basedir which is not set ­ same settings as php.ini from before. Any ideas what might be causing this? Thanks! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rahul Sitaram Johari CEO, Twenty Four Seventy Nine Inc. W: http://www.rahulsjohari.com E: sleepwalker@rahulsjohari.com ³I morti non sono piu soli ... The dead are no longer lonely²