system and application folders above the web root

I create my app as below:

1. Folder structure:
-----------------------------

Code:

application
system
public
 + index.php
 + .htaccess
 + (other resources)
(other files)

All the files in the public folder are available to all users through http.
Note: the index.php was moved to public folder.

2. Modify the index.php:
-----------------------------

PHP Code:

$system_path = '../system';
$application_folder = '../application'; 


3. Content of .htaccess:
-----------------------------

Code:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php/$1 [L]

And that works for me.