Obtaining and Installing Apache


Apache's name is derived from its original nickname "A Patchy Server," since it grew out of a series of patches applied against the industry-standard, but limited, NCSA httpd server in early 1995. Apache is one of the most widely ported pieces of software in the world today. It runs on dozens of different operating system platforms, from AIX to Windows to BeOS to Mac OS X, as well as, of course, FreeBSD. Probably the most complete HTTP implementation available anywhere, Apache is also seen by many as the epitome of the open-source ideal; its success demonstrates how a free, grassroots development effort can compete with large, commercially developed packages from market-leading software companies to become the de facto standard solution. Apache claims nearly a 70-percent market share at the time of this writinga figure that continues to grow.

Obtaining Apache is a matter of installing it from the ports (/usr/ports/www/apache13 or /usr/ports/www/apache2*) or packages. At the time of this writing, Apache 1.3 is the mature code branch, with most of its bugs and security issues solved long ago; it's the codebase that has built Apache's popularity and reputation, and it will probably do everything you need it to do. However, it has a few structural quirks (such as a forking model, where it spawns a new Apache process to handle every single request) that you might find problematic. Apache 2.x, the modern and more actively developed code branch, is a complete rewrite that incorporates kernel threading and greater modular architecture for major performance benefits. This chapter primarily covers Apache 1.3 because of its more widespread deployment and its long history of stability, and because many popular third-party modules are only available for Apache 1.3 and not yet for 2.x; however, the chapter also includes discussions of those areas where Apache 2.x diverges in usage or behavior from Apache 1.3.

Note

The installed support files for the 1.3 and 2.x versions of Apache are kept separate in order to allow administrators to maintain parallel installations and transition gradually to the new version. If you install Apache 2.x, the configuration files will be in /usr/local/etc/apache2x, and the documentation and library paths will similarly end in /apache2 instead of /apache. In this chapter, the examples will discuss file locations that end in /apache; make the necessary adjustment if you are working with Apache 2.x.

Nearly all of the operational directives are identical between Apache 1.3 and 2.x, but some filenames and paths may differ.


One interesting advantage that Apache has for FreeBSD users is that many parts of it were developed explicitly in a FreeBSD environment. These components include the URL Rewrite module (mod_rewrite) by Ralf Engelschall and a number of performance-tuning options discussed in the online documentation. Its development environment also means that Apache fits well into the FreeBSD directory structure, as we'll discuss in a moment.

The Apache source distribution is available from a number of worldwide mirror sites if your ports collection is unable to get it from the main, central site. These mirrors, as well as the definitive collection of Apache documentation, can be found at http://httpd.apache.org.




FreeBSD 6 Unleashed
FreeBSD 6 Unleashed
ISBN: 0672328755
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 355
Authors: Brian Tiemann

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