What s in This Book

What's in This Book

Because much of the material in this book is drawn from question-and-answer discussions and consultations, we have tried to make it as complete as possible. Of course, this means that we have included "recipes" for some questions to which there are currently no satisfactory answers (or at least to our knowledge). This has not been done to tease, annoy, or frustrate you; such recipes are included to provide completeness, so that you will know those problems have been considered rather than ignored.

Very few problems remain insoluble forever, and these incomplete recipes are the ones that will receive immediate attention on the book's web site and in revisions of the book. If a reader has figured out a way to do something the book mentions but doesn't explain, or omits mentioning entirely, our research team can be notified, and that solution will go on the web site and in the next revision.

Who knows , you may be the one to provide such a solution!

Platform Notes

The recipes in this book are geared toward two major platforms: Unixish ones (such as Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris) and Windows. There are many that have no platform-specific aspects, and for those any mention of the underlying operating system or hardware is gratefully omitted. Due to the authors' personal preferences and experiences, Unixish coverage is more complete than that for the Windows platforms. However, contributions, suggestions, and corrections for Windows-specific recipes will be gladly considered for future revisions and inclusion on the web site.

Other Books

There are a number of books currently in print that deal with the Apache web server and its operation. Among them are:

Apache: The Definitive Guide , Third Edition (O'Reilly)
Apache Unleashed (Macmillan)
Apache Administrator's Handbook (Macmillan)

You can also keep an eye on a couple of web pages that track Apache titles:

http://Apache-Server.Com/store.html
http://httpd.apache.org/ info /apache_books.html

Other Sources

In addition to books, there is a wealth of information available online. There are web sites, mailing lists, and USENET newsgroups devoted to the use and management of the Apache web server. The web sites are limitless, but here are some active and useful sources of information.

The comp.infosystems.www.servers.unix and comp.infosystems.www.servers.ms-dos USENET newsgroups. Although these aren't dedicated to Apache specifically , there is a lot of traffic concerning it, and experienced Apache users hang out here. If you don't have access to news, or know how to reach USENET, check out http://groups.google.com/.
The Apache Today web site, run by Internet.Com. This site regularly lists articles about the web server and making the most of it. The URL is http://ApacheToday.Com/.
The users@httpd.apache.org mailing list is populated with people who have varying degrees of experience with the Apache software, and some of the Apache developers can be found there, too. Posting is only permitted to subscribed participants . To join the list, visit http://httpd.apache.org/userslist.html.
The #apache IRC channel on the irc.freenode.net network -or on many other IRC networks, for that matter. However, your chances of encountering us are most likely on the freenode network.

We must point out that none of these is an "official" support medium for the web server. In fact, there is no "official" support path , since the software is largely developed by volunteers and is free. However, these informal support forums successfully answer many questions.