Apache .htaccess logic error

The following message is messing up my Web site testing. Apache access logic has a severe logic error on Linux. The published bypasses are messy and insecure.
[Thu Sep 06 08:39:33 2012] [crit] [client 127.0.0.1] (13)Permission denied: /home/peter/.htaccess pcfg_openfile: unable to check htaccess file, ensure it is readable

Lets start from the simple end. I am not using the directory /home/peter/ for Web development so Apache should not look there for anything.

I am using a sub subdirectory /home/peter/ for Web development and Apache should start looking in the defined directory, not the parent directory. This part of Apache is built on the broken assumption that you will only use Apache on a server dedicated to Apache. The Windows version of Apache does not show this problem in any of the many configurations I use. Apache 2.2 on Linux does have this problem.

Apache on Linux has many problems that stop people from using Apache on Linux for Web development. Instead they keep Windows on their notebook or waste time working on a remote server, slowing down everything for uploads and downloads, plus severely limiting development time to when you have a network connection.