I recently installed MySQL (4.0.17), Apache (2.0.48) and PHP (4.3.4), according to the method in the SAMS "Teach Yourself A, P & M in 24 Hours" book. (In other words, install MySQL from RPM, but compile the other two to ensure they support each other.)

Initially, everything seemed to work, but for no apparent reason something seems to have gone wrong since then. httpd will not now start, giving this error:

To my knowledge, I haven't upgraded anything since installation. Can anyone suggest how I can fix the problem?

Also (and this may or may not be related), I seem to have two "httpd.conf" files:

How would I know which one is being used?

Many thanks,
Tim

It sounds like you may have two Apache installation (and possibly two PHP). When you installed the RPMs, did you do "rpm -i" or "rpm -U"? If you did "-i" and you had Apache preinstalled from your distro, then you may have installed the new version alongside, rather than "upgrading" via the "-U" option. Just a thought.

Thanks for the feedback - it's possible there might be two conflicting versions, but I can't immediately see how.

When I installed Linux (RH9, BTW), I deliberately didn't install the Apache, PHP and MySQL packages, because at the time I wanted to have the latest versions and install them in the way the SAMS book suggested. (I would probably just install everything from RPMs now, so long as all the right options were compiled into the packages - still, you live and learn )

To clarify: I only actually installed one RPM (MySQL). The book said to compile Apache and PHP from source (presumably to ensure Apache had MySQL support, and PHP had Apache support) so that's what I did. I'm fairly sure there would not be any RPMs of Apache or PHP installed, but if there are, should I uninstall them so they won't conflict with the compiled versions?

This may all be academic in the end, as I hope to have a dedicated Linux server box soon, where I'll probably just use the RPMs...

Thanks again,
Tim

Since I wrote the last post here, I found I can start/restart Apache manually, using

This works perfectly (PHP and all), even though I can't use redhat-config-services to stop and restart the server (it gives the error message above).

Can anyone suggest how I could tweak the appropriate file, so Apache will start properly on boot?

Many thanks,
Tim.

you need to soft link the apache script into
init directories. If you don't know what I'm talking about use the
red hat management tool.

alternatively:
go to
www.webim.com and download webmin.
It's a fabulous admin tool.

It does everything, it's even good at administering MySQL.
I was playing with the same things this weekend, php MySql and
the drudgery removed is astounding.

You'll be able to set up boot servers, make tables, configure apache,
there is also something called "myphpadmin" (or similar) which is fab
for MySQL configuration also.

There's no sense jumping in at the deep end.
Make life simple and learn the fiddly stuff at your own pace.


regards billy