Page 38 - Open Soource Technologies 304.indd

Unit 3: Apache Server

2. Root access on this computer. Notes
3. For binary and source installations, the tar and gunzip Unix utilities.
3.2.3 Binary Installation

A binary is pre-configured, which means someone else has gone to the trouble of configuring
and building the software for you. There are, however, a few things you should keep in
mind: Binaries are compiled for a particular operating system. In other words, you must use
a binary built specifically for FreeBSD on your FreeBSD machine and a Linux binary on your
Linux machine. You need to be sure to grab the correct binary; if you don’t see a binary for
your particular operating system, you must choose a different method of installation. Apache
Binaries are usually a version or two behind the current source distribution. This means you
don’t reap the benefits of the latest bug fixes and feature enhancements. Because binaries are
pre-configured, you don’t have much opportunity to alter the way the software works. If you’re
a newcomer, you may not care about this loss of flexibility. Fortunately most Apache binaries
include a full source distribution, providing you with the best of both worlds—play now, learn
later. Now let’s install a binary. Point your browser at http://www.apache.org/dist/httpd/
binaries/ and download the binary for your operating system (in our case, Linux). You’ll
most likely be presented with a directory containing multiple versions of Apache in various
compressed forms. For the purposes of this guide, I’ll assume you’ve downloaded the gzip’d
form of the latest 2.0.x Apache binary (currently that’s httpd-2.0.35-i686-pc-linux-rh72.tar.gz).
If there is a README associated with the file you’re downloading, you may want to review it
for any interesting installation tidbits or possible bugs.

3.2.4 RPM Installation
Those of you running Red Hat Linux may want to take advantage of Red Hat’s RPM (“RedHat
Package Manager”) system. Almost identical to a binary, an RPM is further customized to
play nicely with other RPMs and provide a consistent interface to installing, updating, and
removing binaries. For Linux newcomers or when installing a small standard component, RPMs
are simple and reliable. Bear in mind that an Apache RPM may already be installed on your
system depending on how Linux was originally installed on your computer. To find out, at the
shell prompt, type:

rpm -qa | grep apache If you see something like apache-1.3.9xxx, an Apache RPM has already been
installed. You can also type that command typing httpd instead of apache to see if it’s installed.

If you don’t have an Apache RPM, you must obtain one. Red Hat 7.3 ships apache-1.3.23-
11.src.rpm in the RedHat/RPMS directory on the installation CD. Or, point your browser at
ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/redhat-7.3-en/os/i386/RedHat/RPMS and download it. If
you’ve not already done so, you’ll need to become root. Navigate to the same directory as the
.rpm file you obtained, and then type the following command, substituting the name of the
.rpm you’re using for example: apache-1.3.23-11.src.rpm.
rpm -ivh apache-1.3.23-11.src.rpm

RPM should grind away, displaying its progress with a primitive ####### progress bar. Barring
any errors, you’re done.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 33