# PluginError apache / debian

**URL:** https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/pluginerror-apache-debian/215657
**Category:** Help
**Created:** [March 30, 2024, 1:28pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/pluginerror-apache-debian/215657 "2024-03-30T13:28:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![SlowPsycho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@SlowPsycho](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/SlowPsycho)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2024, 1:28pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/pluginerror-apache-debian/215657/1 "2024-03-30T13:28:47Z")

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Greetings those who will find an obvious flaw!

So, I am trying to set up LE for a server for the first time. For reasons I have been setting it up without encryption for a year (predominantly as I doubted whether it was even going to be used) - if it helps, there is Drupal and CiviCRM set up on the VPS.

I am probably missing something really simple in the conf file; but can not see the command for the pastebin (or whatever the wood and trees analogy is these days)

My domain is: fndepot.online

I ran this command: sudo certbot --apache

It produced this output:

Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log  
The apache plugin is not working; there may be problems with your existing configuration.  
The error was: PluginError('There has been an error in parsing the file /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/fndepot.online.conf on line 10: Syntax error')

**Contents of letsencrypt.log**

2024-03-30 13:10:18,475:DEBUG:urllib3.connectionpool:[http://localhost](http://localhost):None "GET /v2/connections?snap=certbot&interface=content HTTP/1.1" 200 97  
2024-03-30 13:10:18,948:DEBUG:certbot.\_internal.main:certbot version: 2.9.0  
2024-03-30 13:10:18,948:DEBUG:certbot.\_internal.main:Location of certbot entry point: /snap/certbot/3643/bin/certbot  
2024-03-30 13:10:18,948:DEBUG:certbot.\_internal.main:Arguments: ['--apache', '--preconfigured-renewal']  
2024-03-30 13:10:18,948:DEBUG:certbot.\_internal.main:Discovered plugins: PluginsRegistry(PluginEntryPoint#apache,PluginEntryPoint#manual,PluginEntr$  
2024-03-30 13:10:18,966:DEBUG:certbot.\_internal.log:Root logging level set at 30  
2024-03-30 13:10:18,967:DEBUG:certbot.\_internal.plugins.selection:Requested authenticator apache and installer apache  
2024-03-30 13:10:19,054:DEBUG:certbot\_apache.\_internal.configurator:Apache version is 2.4.38  
2024-03-30 13:10:19,300:DEBUG:certbot.\_internal.plugins.disco:Other error:(PluginEntryPoint#apache): There has been an error in parsing the file /e$  
Traceback (most recent call last):  
File "/snap/certbot/3643/lib/python3.8/site-packages/certbot/\_internal/plugins/disco.py", line 112, in prepare  
self.\_initialized.prepare()  
File "/snap/certbot/3643/lib/python3.8/site-packages/certbot\_apache/\_internal/configurator.py", line 388, in prepare  
self.parser.check\_parsing\_errors("httpd.aug")  
File "/snap/certbot/3643/lib/python3.8/site-packages/certbot\_apache/\_internal/parser.py", line 121, in check\_parsing\_errors  
raise errors.PluginError(msg)  
certbot.errors.PluginError: There has been an error in parsing the file /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/fndepot.online.conf on line 10: Syntax error  
2024-03-30 13:10:19,308:DEBUG:certbot.\_internal.plugins.selection:No candidate plugin

**Contents of conf file**

VirtualHost \*:80\>  
ServerAdmin _REMOVED_  
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/fndepot.online  
ServerName fndepot.online  
ServerAlias www.fndepot.online

ErrorLog ${APACHE\_LOG\_DIR}/error.log  
CustomLog ${APACHE\_LOG\_DIR}/access.log combined

\<Directory /var/www/html/fndepot.online/\>;  
Options FollowSymlinks  
AllowOverride All  
Require all granted

\<Directory /var/www/html/fndepot.online\>  
RewriteEngine on  
RewriteBase /  
RewriteCond %{REQUEST\_FILENAME} !-f  
RewriteCond %{REQUEST\_FILENAME} !-d  
#RewriteRule ^(.\*)$ index.php?q=$1 [L,QSA]  
RewriteRule ^ index.php [L]

My web server is (include version):

VPS Debian 10

The operating system my web server runs on is (include version):

My hosting provider, if applicable, is:

Fasthosts VPS

I can login to a root shell on my machine (yes or no, or I don't know):

Yes

I'm using a control panel to manage my site (no, or provide the name and version of the control panel):

No

The version of my client is (e.g. output of `certbot --version` or `certbot-auto --version` if you're using Certbot):

2.9.0

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### Author: ![MikeMcQ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/mikemcq/32/52772_2.png) [@MikeMcQ](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/MikeMcQ)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2024, 1:44pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/pluginerror-apache-debian/215657/2 "2024-03-30T13:44:57Z")

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Welcome @SlowPsycho

> [@SlowPsycho](#):
>
> The error was: PluginError('There has been an error in parsing the file /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/fndepot.online.conf on line 10: Syntax error')

Check line 10 in that conf file but it looks like it might be this one

> [@SlowPsycho](#):
>
> \<Directory /var/www/html/fndepot.online/\>;

There is not normally a semi-colon on end of that line. Try removing it

This forum does not format Apache well unless you use 3 backticks before and after the conf. If above doesn't fix it please post contents like this  
```  
contents of conf file  
```

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### Author: ![SlowPsycho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@SlowPsycho](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/SlowPsycho)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2024, 1:54pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/pluginerror-apache-debian/215657/3 "2024-03-30T13:54:09Z")

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Hi MikeMcQ,

Thank you! It appears to have now set up successfully. I probably added the semi-colon right at the beginning for some benign reason.

Hopefully, I will not need to post the conf file again, but I will take note just in case.

^SP

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### Author: ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/original/3X/c/a/ca6c06ea1ea201324bba7048c6841ce60236468d.png) [@system](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2024, 1:54pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/pluginerror-apache-debian/215657/4 "2024-04-29T13:54:12Z")

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