I am running the default apache server that came with slackware 9.1. I am not going to uninstall, recompile, or do anything else with it because other than this it works, and I know what a pain it can be to get apache successfully up and running. Before you type an answer, keep in mind that re-installing is not the answer. Thank you for your consideration.

The big problem is that whenever I want to access a directory, e.g. "http://server.com/files" no page will be returned until I add the trailing slash, making the url become "http://server.com/files/". How can I make apache find the directory without needing that stupid trailing slash? I'm pretty sure it's a config file setting, but I don't know which setting and I'm not about to mess up my config file too, when somebody probably knows what needs changed to make it work.

All due thanks!

-Steve

I understand you do not want to reinstall, but I had the exact same problem as you...Slack 9.1 and everything. What I did was reinstall and it worked wonders. You could however, compare your httpd.conf with one from a new install...however, I'm not sure of which option needs to be changed...or if Slackware passed an option during compilation configuration....all I know is a recompile fixes it perfectly. Also, this seems to only be an issue with Apache 2.0.

BTW, it takes but 15 seconds to compile Apache on a 1GHz, and about 1 minute to tweak it's configuration to my liking...unless you have many modules to install, Apache is very easy to install and takes VERY little time. Also, please note that if you are using PHP it is NOT recommeneded to use it with Apache 2.0 and you should compile 1.3.x anyway.

I'm still using Slack 9, so I don't know which version of Apache comes with 9.1, but you can find your answer at one of these two links:

v1.3
v2.0

Scroll down to the section titled 'Trailing Slash Problem'.

Enjoy!
--- Cerbere