REALLY basic apache problem (maybe)

Please start here and see how to post a descriptive subject title.

I guess that's the DevShed version of "bad command or file name" Sorry to have bothered you, I eventually (accidentally) figured it out.

I offer my findings for anyone else who might not be familiar with the command line -

Rule number one: DON'T copy exactly what's in the manual.

For example, to test your configuration, the manual says to type C:\Program Files\Apache Group\APACHE>apache -t

at the DOS promt. This won't work. Ever. No matter how many times you type it. Furthermore, continuing to *try* to make it work puts your monitor, your keyboard, random furniture and any pets in the area at risk of serious (user inflicted) injury.

First, look at what the prompt says when you open the DOS window. It will probably say

C:\WINDOWS

This is the wrong directory. You have to TELL it that it's the wrong directory by typing the change directory command to get down to the C directory - i.e.

cd:C:\

Hit enter. The prompt will now say:

C:\> (see how the angle bracket is already there?)

Then type the "cd:" part again, then use the *DOS* name to navigate to the Apache directory (the easiest way to find out the DOS name is to open a Windows Explorer window beside the DOS window, click (and hold down the mouse button) on the "Apache" folder in the Apache Group folder, then drag it to the DOS window.) Your final line, including what was already there and the "cd:" you typed, will end up looking like this:

C:\>cd:C:\PROGRA~1\APACHE~1\APACHE

Unlike the manual's example, DO NOT insert an angle bracket and then just type the "apache -t" command. Instead hit enter. The line will magically transform itself into:

C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache>

NOW you can type the command (with no space after the angle bracket) "apache -t" (no quotes either). Hit enter. As if by magic, your configuration will be tested, and if you've been a good little boy or girl, a line will be returned which says:

c:/program files/apache group/apache/conf/httpd.conf:Syntax OK

This concludes today's lesson for the formerly clueless. Or should I say, FROM the formerly clueless.

Karen

First of all, why did you edit your first message ?!?

About your question
-->> c:\Program Files\Apache Group\APACHE>apache -t

I'm using Apache under win98 for developement,
please tell me where the manual says to type that.

I think that the manual says to type "apache -t" from the directory where you have installed apache...typically "c:\Program Files\Apache Group\APACHE".

That's all.

'Cause it was stupid.

(Well, that and because it described what turned out to be the wrong problem, and I didn't want to confuse anybody.)



EEK! You're right, it isn't in the manual - I was following links hither and yon and ended up at an outside site from a link in the manual without noticing I'd left it. The actual manual says



Nothing about "from the directory where you have installed Apache" though - which was why I following links. (I first tried to type it IN the Apache console window. I probably don't need to say, that didn't work.) After I found out how to get a DOS window, I tried typing in the command, that didn't work either. Anyway, the bit about using the whole pathname was from a site linked to on the Tutorials page:
http://apachetoday.com/news_story.p...001-01-NW-DP-LF

except that it used the "windows" name instead of the DOS name. But the "Testing Apache for Windows" section of the "Using Apache With Microsoft Windows" document had basically the same thing (which also didn't work, although at the time, I didn't know it was because it was using the Windows file name).

I don't remember where I found the nugget about using the DOS name - Three other books I've been reading (on MySQL and PHP) have sections about setting up Apache, so I also got some hints from them. The DOS thing came from one of them, I think. It might have been from the Apache Beginner's Guide I've been reading, but I don't think so... that book was great on the configuration files, but not so much on anything else. (At least, not yet. I'm not to the parts on working with modules yet.) It seems to be written primarily for *nix users, with occasional tidbits for Windows users thrown in here and there.

Karen

The manual is existing in apache.org..

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/win_service.html#signal <-- to answer your question..
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/windows.html <-- main manual page for Windows

I saw both of those early on in the comedy of errors that was me trying to work with the DOS window. They didn't work then. I think it was because, at the time, I hadn't figured out that I couldn't type the whole line straight in at the original prompt (which was in the Windows directory). Or it could have been that I tried it after I had decided that Apache had to be running in order for the commands to work, and I got the error message that apache was already running - I did get that one once, anyway. It's all kind of a blur now, but, I know that by the time I got to the point where I had cd'd to the root "c" directory, I had already dismissed that section as "not working for me."

My main problem was that I didn't go about it systematically - changing one variable at a time. I'd "fix" one thing, only to change something else that made it "wrong" again in the same try. Or, maybe the real problem is that I'm a total GUIdiot! I can look back on it and laugh at myself now, but it sure wasn't funny at the time.

But I have to add, I'm a *little* less of a GUIdiot today than I was yesterday, so despite all the frustration, I have to say that yesterday was a good day.

Karen

If you have not used linux you might find
it's command line alot more useful and rewarding.

My recommend, slackware
well worth the $ cheap!

The heck of it is, I don't actually have to use the command line for anything on my development set up... I just thought it would be a good idea to know how to do it before I started mucking around on my hosting provider's severs, because I WILL have to use the command line interface for some stuff there. (It's a FreeBSD system)




I don't have the HD space for a full partitioned set up. But I'm looking at a program called WinLinux (http://www.winlinux.net/2001/). It integrates into the Windows platform as an "application" (although it forces a reboot when you start it - still, that's a small price to pay for something that I can get my feet wet with before I have to invest in a new system).

I'd ask if anybody's heard anything about it, but that would be off topic. <G>

Karen