Oracle Database Tips by Donald Burleson

Installing Apache on Linux

To install the Apache server on a Linux box, first download the source from the http://www.apache.org site. The download link looks like this:

Of course,  as versions have changed since this book was written, you should download the version that best fits your purpose. In this case, we will download file httpd-2.0.53.tar.gz which contains  the UNIX source file compressed by the gzip compression program. The file is approximately 6.5 MB long. When the download is complete, unpack the file using the following command:

tar -zxvf  httpd-2.0.53.tar.gz

This command creates the directory, httpd-2.0.53, and unpacks the source file into that directory.  The contents of the directory looks like this:

$ cd httpd-2.0.53
$ ls
ABOUT_APACHE      CHANGES        InstallBin.dsp  os
acconfig.h        config.layout  LAYOUT          README
acinclude.m4      configure      libhttpd.dsp    README.platforms
Apache.dsp        configure.in   LICENSE         server
Apache.dsw        docs           Makefile.in     srclib
apachenw.mcp.zip  emacs-style    Makefile.win    support
build             httpd.spec     modules         test
BuildBin.dsp      include        NOTICE          VERSIONING
buildconf         INSTALL        NWGNUmakefile
 

The most important file in this directory is the "configure" file. To continue this process, the development tools, the primarily C compiler and the development libraries must be installed. Some Linux distributions, most notably SuSE 9.x, come without development tools installed.  These tools must be present in order to proceed. If the tools are present, run the configure script noted below:

./configure --prefix=/opt/apache

This script configures Apache2 for installation into the /opt/apache directory. Without the –prefix argument, Apache will be installed into /usr/local directory. The list of all available options is shown when ./configure --help is executed. Here is the output of the typical ./configure script:

$ ./configure --prefix=/opt/apache
checking for chosen layout... Apache
checking for working mkdir -p... yes
checking build system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking host system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking target system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
 

Configuring Apache Portable Runtime library ...

checking for APR... reconfig
configuring package in srclib/apr now
checking build system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking host system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking target system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
Configuring APR library
Platform: i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking for working mkdir -p... yes
APR Version: 0.9.6
checking for chosen layout... apr
checking for gcc... gcc
checking for C compiler default output file name... a.out
checking whether the C compiler works... yes
checking whether we are cross compiling... no
checking for suffix of executables...

The checking goes on and on. When the script is finished, it creates a file named "Makefile". If any error is encountered, the script will fail and the Makefile file will not be created. Makefile is used as input to the program called "make"; one of the development tools that must be installed on the system.

After the "Makefile" file is created, execute "make" using the following command:

make

This command compiles all the source files of the Apache server. The result looks like this:

/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/srclib/apr/libtool --silent --mode=compile gcc  -g -O2 -pthread    -DLINUX=2 -D_REENTRANT -D_XOPEN_SOURCE=500 -D_BSD_SOURCE -D_SVID_SOURCE -D_GNU_SOURCE -DAP_HAVE_DESIGNATED_INITIALIZER   -I/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/srclib/apr/include -I/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/srclib/apr-util/include -I. -I/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/os/unix -I/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/server/mpm/prefork -I/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/modules/http -I/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/modules/filters -I/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/modules/proxy -I/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/include -I/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/modules/generators -I/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/modules/dav/main -prefer-non-pic -static  -c modules.c && touch modules.lo

/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/srclib/apr/libtool --silent --mode=link gcc  -g -O2 -pthread   -DLINUX=2 -D_REENTRANT -D_XOPEN_SOURCE=500 -D_BSD_SOURCE -D_SVID_SOURCE -D_GNU_SOURCE -DAP_HAVE_DESIGNATED_INITIALIZER   -I/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/srclib/apr/include -I/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/srclib/apr-util/include -I. -I/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/os/unix -I/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/server/mpm/prefork -I/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/modules/http -I/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/modules/filters -I/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/modules/proxy -I/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/include -I/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/modules/generators -I/tmp/httpd-2.0.53/modules/dav/main -export-dynamic    -o httpd  modules.lo  modules/aaa/mod_access.la modules/aaa/mod_auth.la modules/filters/mod_include.la modules/loggers/mod_log_config.la modules/metadata/mod_env.la modules/metadata/mod_setenvif.la modules/http/mod_http.la modules/http/mod_mime.la modules/generators/mod_status.la modules/generators/mod_autoindex.la modules/generators/mod_asis.la modules/generators/mod_cgi.la modules/mappers/mod_negotiation.la modules/mappers/mod_dir.la modules/mappers/mod_imap.la modules/mappers/mod_actions.la modules/mappers/mod_userdir.la modules/mappers/mod_alias.la modules/mappers/mod_so.la server/mpm/prefork/libprefork.la server/libmain.la os/unix/libos.la  /tmp/httpd-2.0.53/srclib/pcre/libpcre.la /tmp/httpd-2.0.53/srclib/apr-util/libaprutil-0.la -lgdbm -ldb-4.2 -lexpat /tmp/httpd-2.0.53/srclib/apr/libapr-0.la -lrt -lm -lcrypt -lnsl -lpthread -ldl

make[1]: Leaving directory `/tmp/httpd-2.0.53'

$

This result is executed as an ordinary user, named "mgogala". The only prerequisite for linking Apache is access to make gcc and all necessary libraries. The next step is installing the Apache server. The installation is performed by executing "make install". Root privileges are needed because normal users cannot write to the system directories, such as /opt. The following script accomplishes this task:

$ su - root
Password:
[root@medo ~]# mkdir /opt/apache
[root@medo ~]# cd /tmp/httpd-2.0.53
[root@medo httpd-2.0.53]# make install 

This script is very verbose and puts all the files in their proper places as well as creates the necessary subdirectories. Apache is now installed. To verify completion, start the server as the user "root":

/opt/apache/bin/apachectl start

If everything was successful and no errors returned, success can be verified by visiting the default page on http://localhost. The result should be a well known "feather" looking like this:

This page is called a "feather" because of the Apache logo. To install PHP, shut down the Apache server by issuing the following command:

/opt/apache/bin/apachectl stop

Now, the installation of PHP5 can begin.

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