Installing Apache httpd
If you are starting fresh without a copy of Apache httpd, you can
download precompiled binaries of Apache httpd from http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi. If you are running Linux or Mac OS X, your
operating system probably already came with a version of Apache httpd.
But, there are likely newer versions available with more bugs fixed and more capability.
Find out which one your operating system includes, and look on the above download link to
see how it compares to today's release version. Try running httpd -version on the command-line shell in
your operating system to see which version you have.
Tip
Showing all the intricacies of building and installing Apache httpd on the various operating systems is beyond the scope of this book. To read about httpd in detail, see Apache: The Definitive Guide by Ben and Peter Laurie (O'Reilly). If your operating system is a non-Windows operating system, it is likely that it came with a version of Apache httpd. Some of these are old versions by the time you get them, and some are not. Make sure to try:
# httpd -versionto see the version number and:
# httpd -lto see the compiled-in configuration and modules (any loadable modules will not be listed here—they are separate).
On Windows, you can simply download the MSI installer binary release and install Apache httpd that way. On all other operating systems, here are some generic steps for building and installing Apache httpd:
First, switch user IDs to the root user. You'll need ...