xampp & linux OpenSuse 10.3

Xampp on linux (as best as I can tell) has the requirement to be run as root. I would initially try to set up specific ownership and group permissions to /opt/lampp/htdocs/freemed. Apply ownership to root with folder read/write permissions and file read/write/execute permission, also group is root with read/write/execute permissions and user as root with folder read/write permissions and file(s) r/w/e permissions. Make sure that the settings are also applying to all sub-folders and files. If that doesn't work, the only other option is to give world permissions of r/w/e to /opt/lampp/htdocs/freemed. (VERY SCARY if on a production server). Xampp is developed as an easy install development server, not easily set-up to be production ready (even after running the security script). This is mostly lying in the fact that it must be run as root without manually adjusting the configuration files (which is more work then setting up your own LAMPP install). Let me know if this works or if it doesn't really answer your questions.