php_include directory outside the httpdocs directory

[JamieA]

I would like to establish a way to create a separate folder for php_include files, which exists outside of the httpdocs directory.
For security reasons, i am keen to do this on an on demand pre-domain basis.

I have managed to create a dedicated php-include folder for the domain, and chown/chmod appropriately so it has the same owner/permissions as the httpdocs directory.
The folder exists at: /var/www/vhosts/[domain]/php_include

I have created and edited a vhosts.conf file for the domain, and enabled the directory as the php include path using the php_value include_path ".:/ ... " directive.
This can be seen via phpinfo() to be correct.

Sadly though, i do not seem to be able to include any files stored in this directory, and am at a loss about what to do next.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received!

 

[Kev]

To try isolate what's going wrong:
1) whats the php error received when the include doesn't work?
2) I assume you're trying to include via a relative path because setting the include_path thus do the includes work if you include them via the full path e.g. include '/var/www/vhosts/[domain]/php_include/[your_file] ?