hypeway

Aside from being a robust open source server-side scripting language, PHP is easy to learn and master even for someone like myself without a CS degree or background. The combination of PHP, MySQL, and Apache has become a welcome solution to many Web applications deployed by numerous entrepreneurial businesses, non-profit organizations, company intranets, and online e-commerce stores. It’s been more than 6 years since I started using PHP in Web design projects. And during these years, PHP has gone through lots of improvements and its latest stable version (5.2) packs numerous changes and new features making this scripting language even more robust. So I’ve decided to update my knowledge in PHP, and while I am at it, I will obtain a PHP 5 Certification offered by Zend so my PHP skills can be officially recognized. In the process of studying for the exam, I’ve learned many new features in PHP 5 as well as other PHP knowledge that I wasn’t aware of previously. I am happy that the preparation process has been progressing nicely, and I am expecting to complete the study and pass the exam by the end of the month. Wish me luck!

For some odd reasons, the built-in Apache Server can’t no longer be started after I ran the 10.5.6 system update. As a result, “http://localhost/” fails to connect to the server. When I run the “sudo apachectl configtest” command, I got the following message:

dyld: Symbol not found: _apr_socket_sendfile
 Referenced from: /usr/sbin/httpd
 Expected in: /usr/lib/libapr-1.0.dylib

/usr/sbin/apachectl: line 81: 58838 Trace/BPT trap          $HTTPD -t

I did a good amount of searching on Google hoping to find related discussions on the same issue from other users, but I couldn’t find the right answers to my problem. This problem may or may not be related to my system setup, and trying to work with Apple to identify the cause can be time-consuming. I need the Apache Server to work now locally, and it becomes inevitable to re-install the default Apache Server on Leopard 10.5.6 as the quickest solution.

Thanks to the Internet and those generous code contributors, I find this very useful shell script from a CodeSnippets post that allows me to quickly re-install the latest version of Apache Server without figuring out a lot of thing on my own. Due to its usefulness, I am including it in my post just so I always have it even if it becomes unavailable on CodeSnippets in the future. The credit of this code certainly goes to its original code contributor.

#!/bin/sh
# this re-installs the default apache server on leopard
# save code as filename.sh and give it permissions to run (see in code)
# run with ./apache_refresh.sh
# If permissions error do: chmod u+x filename.sh
# WARNING THIS MAY DELETE OR CHANGE YOUR APACHE SETTING SO BACKUP IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO SAVE

echo "*******************************   Starting Apache Server Refresh - Leopard"

#make a temp directory to work with, you can change this if you choose
echo "*******************************   Creating the source folder"
mkdir ~/Desktop/apache-temp
cd ~/Desktop/apache-temp

#get current apache version, update or change if necessary
echo "*******************************   Downloading Apache Server"
curl -O http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/apache/httpd/httpd-2.2.11.tar.gz

#if you change the apache version above be sure to change it here as well
echo "*******************************   Extracting Apache Server"
tar xzvf httpd-2.2.11.tar.gz
cd httpd-2.2.11

#you can change the default install paths, "Darwin" is the default leopard install, if you don't know what this means then don't change this!
echo "*******************************   Configuring Darwin Layout"
./configure --enable-layout=Darwin \
--enable-mods-shared=all \
--with-ssl=/usr \
--with-mpm=prefork \
--disable-unique-id \
--enable-ssl \
--enable-dav \
--enable-cache \
--enable-proxy \
--enable-logio \
--enable-deflate \
--with-included-apr \
--enable-cgi \
--enable-cgid \
--enable-suexec

#make the files
echo "*******************************   Compiling Apache Server"
make

#install the files
echo "*******************************   Installing Apache Server"
sudo make install

#backup hosts file
echo "*******************************   Backing up hosts file"
cd /private/etc
sudo cp hosts hosts.backup

#delete hosts file
echo "*******************************   Deleting Hosts File"
sudo rm hosts

echo "*******************************   Creating New Hosts File"
cd ~/Desktop/apache-temp
cat > hosts << EOF
##
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting.  Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1	localhost
255.255.255.255	broadcasthost
::1             localhost
fe80::1%lo0	localhost
EOF

#move new hosts file to /etc dir
echo "*******************************   Moving Hosts Filer"
sudo mv ~/Desktop/apache-temp/hosts /etc

#set hosts file permissions
echo "*******************************   Setting Hosts File Permissions"
cd /private/etc
sudo chown root hosts

#backup httpd.conf file
echo "*******************************   Backing up httpd.conf File"
cd /private/etc/apache2
sudo cp httpd.conf httpd.conf.backup

#delete to httpd.conf file
echo "*******************************   Deleting httpd.conf File"
sudo rm httpd.conf

#copy httpd.conf file from originals folder
echo "*******************************   Copying New httpd.conf File"
cd original
sudo cp httpd.conf /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf

#backup httpd-vhosts.conf file
echo "*******************************   Backing up httpd-vhosts.conf File"
cd /private/etc/apache2/extra
sudo cp httpd-vhosts.conf httpd-vhosts.conf.backup

#copy httpd-vhosts.conf file from originals extra folder
echo "*******************************   Copying New httpd-vhosts.conf File"
cd /private/etc/apache2/original/extra
sudo cp httpd-vhosts.conf /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf

#remove the temp folder
echo "*******************************   Remove the temp folder"
rm -R ~/Desktop/apache-temp

echo "*******************************   Starting Apache Server"
sudo apachectl start

echo "*******************************   Done"

Notice the line “curl -O http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/apache/httpd/httpd-2.2.11.tar.gz” that specifies the download source. Change that to the most current version if necessary.