php and 'client denied problems' with macports apache2

[Tim Johnson]

I'm on OSX 10.7
This is a followup to subject 
"Howto enable gd for PHP 5.3.28"

I have installed the following :
php55, php55-intl, php55-memcache, php55-gd, php55-mysql,
php55-sqlite, php55-gd, php55-opcache, apache2 and
php55-apache2handler.

php55 was set as the php binary by
    sudo port select php php55

To enable php55-apache2handler, I ran:
  cd /opt/local/apache2/modules
    sudo /opt/local/apache2/bin/apxs -a -e -n php5 mod_php55.so

apache2 was started as follows 
  sudo port load apache2

I see the following processes
  /opt/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf
  /opt/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf

Modifications to httpd.conf included changes to
User, Group, ServerAdmin, ScriptAlias, DocumentRoot consistent with
the prior configuration for the "Apple" apache2.
DocumentRoot and ScriptAlias settings seemed to be interpolated
properly by the browser. cgi-bin appears to be working as normal.

I see the following line in httpd.conf
LoadModule php5_module        modules/mod_php55.so

**And** I've got problems:
php does not appear to be running as a component of the server.
If point my browser to http://localhost//phpinfo.php, I see
the code for the file printed out, rather than the output of the
executing file.

If I point my browser to one of my local drupal sites - I get the
following:
client denied by server configuration:
  /Users/http/sites/baker_drupal/.htaccess
client denied by server configuration:
  /Users/http/sites/akwebsoft/.htaccess
## as examples.
I have more than just a php problem however. .htaccess rewrite rules
in general are being denied. 
The rewrite module appears to be enabled. I see the following
in httpd.conf
LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so

It's a bl**dy mess, but I'm sure that someone who knows a bit more
than I can show the quick fix.

Thanks
-- 
Tim 
tim at tee jay forty nine dot com or akwebsoft dot com
http://www.akwebsoft.com, http://www.tj49.com