Apache: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition

Out of the Box

Until Apache 1.3, there was no real out-of-the-box batch-capable build and installation procedure for the complete Apache package. This method is provided by a top-level configure script and a corresponding top-level Makefile.tmpl file. The goal is to provide a GNU Autoconf-style frontend that is capable of driving the old src/Configure stuff in batch.

Once you have extracted the sources (see earlier), the build process can be done in a minimum of three command lines — which is how most Unix software is built nowadays. Change yourself to root before you run ./configure; otherwise, if you use the default build configuration (which we suggest you do not), the server will be looking at port 8080 and will, confusingly, refuse requests to the default port, 80.

The result is, as you will be told during the process, probably not what you really want:

./configure
make
make install

This will build Apache and install it, but we suggest you read on before deciding to do it this way. If you do this — and then decide to do something different, do:

               make clean

afterwards, to tidy up. Don’t forget to delete the files created with:

rm -R /usr/local/apache

Readers who have done some programming will recognize that configure is a shell script that creates a Makefile. The command make uses it to check a lot of stuff, sets compiler variables, and compiles Apache. The command make install puts the numerous components in their correct places around your machine, using, in this case, the default ...