installing mod_rewrite, compile with mod_rewrite?

how do i install or compile apache with mod_rewrite. i do have a dedicated box. in the begining i only used it for website, but as i use it more i am using certain features more. when i made an htaccess file and do RewriteEngine on my error log returns:
[Wed Sep 19 15:16:52 2001] [alert] /usr/local/www/htdocs/deals/.htaccess: Invalid command 'RewriteEngine', perhaps mis-spelled or defined by a module not included in the server configuration
am i doin something wrong?

>> i do have a dedicated box

It's very important to let us know what OS and version.

>> when i made an htaccess file and do RewriteEngine on my error log returns

Don't use .htaccess, define RewriteEngine on globally without any other Rewrite* directive then restart apachectl. If you are still seeing the same error upon startup, then you need to recompile Apache.

--enable-module=rewrite or --enable-module=most (mod_rewrite included in this one)

hi thanks for your help, i still get the error, i dont' think it was installed on my box at all. it is freebsd by the way. i am completely new at this, how do i recompile apache with --enable-module=rewrite . i think that since it is so hard i shouldn't be playing with it, but hey, what else do i have to do. thanks again for giving me help!

>> it is freebsd by the way

Then mod_rewrite is enabled by default if you install thru the ports collection.

>> how do i recompile apache with --enable-module=rewrite

In FreeBSD, you almost always don't have a need to compile software manually unless it's not found in the ports collection.
Unlike RPM binary in Linux (you have to accept the default configuration), *BSD ports system is as flexible as compiling software manually. If you choose to accept the default, you just need to do the following:
1) cd /usr/ports/www/apache13
2) make && make install clean
That's it

You can also specify parameters to make which is equivalent to ./configure blah blah.
Example:
1) cd /usr/ports/www/apache13
2) make --prefix=/var ---enable-module=most
3) make install clean

You should cd to /usr/ports/www/apache13 and check out the Makefile and see what configure options are defaults and decide whether you want to accept them.
Of course, you can even alter that Makefile directly.