For a basic installation, it is sufficient to select the
Apache package apache2
.
Additionally, install one of the MPM (multiprocessing module)
packages, such as
apache2-prefork
or
apache2-worker
. When choosing an MPM, remember
that the thread-based worker MPM cannot be used with
mod_php4
, because some of the libraries of
mod_php4
are not yet thread-safe.
After installation, Apache must be activated
as a service in the runlevel editor. To start it during system
boot, check runlevels 3 and 5 in the runlevel editor. To test
whether Apache is running, go to http://localhost/
in a browser. If
Apache is active, see an example page,
assuming apache2-example-pages
is installed.
To use active contents with the help of modules, install the modules
for the respective programming languages. These are
apache2-mod_perl
for Perl,
mod_php4
for PHP, and
mod_python
for Python. The use of these modules is
described in Section 30.8.4, “Generating Active Contents with Modules”.
It is advisable to install the documentation
provided in the package apache2-doc
.
After the package has been installed and the server started as
described in Section 30.5.2, “Activating Apache”),
the documentation can be
accessed directly with the URL http://localhost/manual.
To be able to develop modules for
Apache or compile third-party modules, the
package apache2-devel
is additionally required
along with the corresponding development tools. These also contain the
apxs tools, which are described in Section 30.5.5, “Installing Modules with apxs”.
apxs2 is an important tool for module developers. This
program enables the compilation and installation of modules from source
code with a single command (including the required changes to the
configuration files). Furthermore, you can also install modules available
as object files (extension .o
) or static libraries
(extension .a
). When installing from sources,
apxs2 creates a dynamic shared
object (DSO), which is directly used by
Apache as a module.
Install a module from source code with a
command like apxs2 -c -i -a mod_foo.c. Other options
of apxs2 are described in its man page. The modules
should then be activated in /etc/sysconfig/apache2
with the entry
APACHE_MODULES
as described in Section 30.6.1, “Configuration with SuSEconfig”.
apxs2 is available in several versions:
apxs2, apxs2-prefork, and
apxs2-worker. apxs2 installs modules
so they can be used for all MPMs. The other two programs install modules so
they can only be used for the respective MPMs (prefork or worker).
apxs2 installs modules in
/usr/lib/apache2
and
apxs2-prefork installs modules in
/usr/lib/apache2-prefork
.