If I want to change 'public_html' to 'html', do I just edit httpd.conf, and change the directory name?

...or does this have to be done through CPanel or WHM in order to avoid problems?

Can I make a new default for all new accounts?

Can I generally edit files such as httpd.conf , and CPanel will deal with that OK? (I have used Webmin before,where it was just an interface to the same conf files anyway, but I'm wondering if CPanel is that flexible, given that there are things like quotas etc..)

I think you'd have to change it in /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf, of course make a backup first, then change the files in the CPanel Skel (A skeleton of what will be put into new accounts)

I was going to edit /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf ... Is it the same file, different virtual path?

But my question is really..does CPanel update itself to deal with manual edits?

Another example... if I manually edit the existing .htaccess files in protected directories (say, to add more users), does the CPanel 'Protect Directories' function update to match?

and the Skeleton.. doesnt that affect just the contents of the web root directory, not it's location?

I believe in the Skel directory, if you rename public_html, to html, and make the necesary changes in the conf (yes same files, virtually linked) It should update.

I would believe that CPanel would look at the .htaccess file, only Microsoft creates useless files to look by itself for it's own changes.