htaccess to deny access to the current directory?

Question

I'd like to deny access to directory /foo/secret.

If I create a .htaccess file in /foo/secret, with...

<Directory ./>
        Order deny,Allow
        Deny from all
</Directory>

...I get a "500 Internal Server Error", which, while achieving the intended result, isn't the "403 Forbidden" message I was expecting.

I know you're supposed to put an absolute path in Directory directives but I'm committing this into a code repository and the remote client won't necessarily be running in the same path.

Answer 1

Don't add <Directory ./> directive. .htaccess points to the directory itself. At least, that worked for me...

Answer 2

.htaccess files are already in a directory, so that directive is non-applicable. Just skip it and go straight to your directives.