hi,

I am trying to install apache server on linux. The problem is I need a C compiler to install apace but I can't seem to find it in my system. Probably it wasn't installed. I query man gcc and man cc to find out and there is no such command. So how can I install the C compiler? Is the installation files available in the cd? I am using redhat 9.

What Linux distribution are you currently running?

You can probably install gcc from your Linux CDs using whatever software installer your distribution comes with, in fact, apache is probably in an easy to install package as well, on the CD.

Without knowing which distro you are running, I can't say much more than that.

Running a webserver on an OS that is no longer supported with updates is a bad idea. Use CentOS as it is compatable with RHEL (it is just a rebuild of the source code, so it is infact almost identical), is much faster than RH9 and the updates are still coming out. They come out within 24 hours of Red Hat releasing them for RHEL.

I search the cd and found files below with gcc in its name
compat-gcc-7.3-2.96.118.i386.rpm
compat-gcc-c++-7.3-2.96.118.i386.rpm
libgcc-3.2.2-5.i386.rpm

Is any one of this files is for gcc installation? If it is, is there any site that can guide me in performing the installation step by step. I never install this before.

And how do i check the distro of red hat 9?

He must have misread your post. Red Hat 9 is the distro you are running. And like I said, you are asking (more like begging) for problems by running a webserver on an OS that is no longer receiving security updates. Red Hat 9 has been discontinued. See my earlier post about Centos and WhiteBox linux, they are rebuilds of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and as such still receive security updates regularily (normally within 24 hours of Red Hat releasing them for Red Hat Enterprise Linux). Much faster than Red Hat 9 and better for Server use. I would recommend checking it out, espescially if the server is going to be visible online (I'm assuming it is an internet server and not an intranet server, am i right?). If hackers see a vulnerable Red Hat 9 box, it will be hacked.

Debian is a good distro to consider too.

Actually its not up to me which linux distro to use. Red Hat 9 was purchased not so long ago so we continued using it. But if Centos of Whitebox is a free OS then might consider it. By the way if red hat is discontinued how come i can still access the www.redhat.com site ?

Red Hat is still a company. They discontinued their Red Hat Linux line, replacing it with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Red Hat Linux used to cost between $30 and $150 depending on the version. Red Hat Enterprise can cost up to $2000 or more depending. CentOS (I recommend it over WhiteBox) is a free download, and much more server oriented than Red Hat 9. All it is, is Red Hat Enterprise minus any Red Hat trademarks and without the phone support. But trust me, official support for Red Hat 9 ended over half a year ago, I remember because I had to migrate to another distro.