Custom Apache Installation

English Applications
#1

i am a newbie to linux and this community. i have recently installed linux (OpenSuse 11.2) on my server. i am trying to install a third party web application, which requires Apache with Suexec in custom configuration. the web application requires the ‘docroot’ in Suexec to be set to ‘/home’ instead of ‘/srv/www’. thus, i need to install Apache manualy and cannot use ‘YaST’ to do so, due to custom configuration required. i found some methods on other forums, but they were for not specifically for OpenSuse. on following the instructions/commands, none of the errors were generated, but apache is still not installed on my server.

here is the commands i ran to install apache

download httpd-2.2.10.tar.gz via
wget URL TO Downloadfile
tar xfz [filename]

Now do the rest:

IMPORTANT: When you type in --with-suexec-docroot=/home \ watch out to use /home

./configure --with-suexec-caller=wwwrun
–with-suexec-docroot=/home
–with-suexec-gidmin=96
–with-suexec-uidmin=96
–with-suexec-logfile=/var/log/apache2/suexec.log
make all
cd support
make suexec
cp suexec /usr/sbin/suexec2
cd /usr/sbin/
chown root:root suexec2
chmod u+s suexec2
rcapache2 restart

please let me know how to install Apache + Suexec with custom configuration OR tell me if there is any error(s) in the above commands in context of OpenSuse.

#2

What’s the name of the third party application? Someone here has probably experienced it, and it’ll probably be simpler to modify a few things on that application and a standard Opensuse LAMP stack to get it working. Or better yet, the third party app may be available as an RPM, ready to install on Opensuse.

Opensuse does such a good job looking after Apache that I much prefer installing it via Yast.

Provide a few more details and maybe someone has run up against your situation and will walk you right through it.

#3

the application i am trying to install is webmin & virtualmin. webmin is the main system, and virtualmin is an add-on module in this application.

virtualmin allows you to create multiple virtual servers on your physical server. in order to do so it needs suexec root to be set to “/home” instead of “/srv/www/” (which is default in OpenSuse). i have researched on various forums and virtualmin needs apache to be setup in such configuration to work properly.

thus, help me install apache with suexec support with mentioned customization.

#4

Grab the src.rpm install with rpm -ivh navigate to /usr/src/packages/SPECS open up the apache spec file modify the line around the 440ish mark. You could do the global var, but I’m not sure of the implications sounded bad idea to me.

Hit it with rpmbuild -bb file.spec

Solve all the dependencies, you’ll have a few devel libs and need some of the build tools. Wait a while then install the rpms in /usr/src/packages/RPMS/$arch/ hit it with a wildcard I went for zypper in *

/usr/sbin/suexec2 -V
 -D AP_DOC_ROOT="/home"
 -D AP_GID_MIN=96
 -D AP_HTTPD_USER="wwwrun"
 -D AP_LOG_EXEC="/var/log/apache2/suexec.log"
 -D AP_SAFE_PATH="/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin"
 -D AP_UID_MIN=96
 -D AP_USERDIR_SUFFIX="public_html"

Hopefully this is what your after in the end…

#5

Well I haven’t seen this howto but some steps seem to be missing. I don’t see the compiled apache2 installed anywhere, it should also be a cp command. I don’t know what the significance of 96 is, perhaps you should find out what uidmin and gidmin do before using it without question.

You would also encounter other issues, such as checking that modules (like PHP) are compatible with the generated binary.

Perhaps it would be better to take FeatherMonkey’s advice and rebuild the standard RPM with your changes so that it would slot in the normal apache locations.

#6

thank you all for your inputs. i tried another method and it seems to work. here is what i did :

  1. as i already had compiled binary of suexec from the commands i executed, i copied that binary to a temp folder.
  2. installed apache using YaST
  3. replaced new suexec binary with the one that i compiled (from temp folder)

tell me if this method would have any future implications?

#7

FYI, I use Webmin with Opensuse all the time on my servers. I’ve never used Virtualmin, so I can’t speak to that.

You’ll have a few conflicts – in particular, if you use Webmin to set up the firewall, Yast’s firewall configurator will complain afterwards when you start it – but aside from that and a few other annoyances, they can coexist.

I would always use Yast to install software, though. That way, it keeps track of updates and patches for you.