apxs(8) 						      System Manager's Manual							   apxs(8)

NAME

       apxs - APache eXtenSion tool

SYNOPSIS

       apxs -g [ -S name=value ] -n modname

       apxs -q [ -S name=value ] query ...

       apxs  -c [ -S name=value ] [ -o dsofile ] [ -I incdir ] [ -D name=value ] [ -L libdir ] [ -l libname ] [ -Wc,compiler-flags ] [ -Wl,linker-
       flags ] files ...

       apxs -i [ -S name=value ] [ -n modname ] [ -a ] [ -A ] dsofile ...

       apxs -e [ -S name=value ] [ -n modname ] [ -a ] [ -A ] dsofile ...

DESCRIPTION

       apxs is a tool for building and installing extension modules for the Apache HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server. This is achieved	by
       building  a  dynamic shared object (DSO) from one or more source or object files which then can be loaded into the Apache server under run-
       time via the LoadModule directive from mod_so.

       So to use this extension mechanism your platform has to support the DSO feature and your Apache httpd binary  has  to  be  built  with  the
       mod_so module.  The apxs tool automatically complains if this is not the case.  You can check this yourself by manually running the command

	 $ httpd -l

       The  module  mod_so  should  be part of the displayed list.  If these requirements are fulfilled you can easily extend your Apache server's
       functionality by installing your own modules with the DSO mechanism by the help of this apxs tool:

	 $ apxs -i -a -c mod_foo.c
	 gcc -fpic -DSHARED_MODULE -I/path/to/apache/include -c mod_foo.c
	 ld -Bshareable -o mod_foo.so mod_foo.o
	 cp mod_foo.so /path/to/apache/modules/mod_foo.so
	 chmod 755 /path/to/apache/modules/mod_foo.so
	 [activating module `foo' in /path/to/apache/etc/httpd.conf]
	 $ apachectl restart
	 /path/to/apache/sbin/apachectl restart: httpd not running, trying to start
	 [Tue Mar 31 11:27:55 1998] [debug] mod_so.c(303): loaded module foo_module
	 /path/to/apache/sbin/apachectl restart: httpd started
	 $ _

       The arguments files can be any C source file (.c), a object file (.o) or even a library archive (.a). The apxs  tool  automatically  recog-
       nizes  these  extensions  and  automatically  used the C source files for compilation while just using the object and archive files for the
       linking phase. But when using such pre-compiled objects make sure they are compiled for position independent code (PIC) to be able  to  use
       them  for  a dynamically loaded shared object.  For instance with GCC you always just have to use -fpic.  For other C compilers consult its
       manual page or at watch for the flags apxs uses to compile the object files.

       For more details about DSO support in Apache read the documentation of mod_so or perhaps even read the src/modules/standard/mod_so.c source
       file.

OPTIONS

       Common options:

       -n modname  This  explicitly  sets the module name for the -i (install) and -g (template generation) option. Use this to explicitly specify
		   the module name.  For option -g this is required, for option -i the apxs tool tries to determine the name from  the	source	or
		   (as a fallback) at least by guessing it from the filename.

       Query options:

       -q	   Performs a query for apxs's knowledge about certain settings. The query parameters can be one or more of the following strings:
		     CC 	     TARGET
		     CFLAGS	     SBINDIR
		     CFLAGS_SHLIB    INCLUDEDIR
		     LD_SHLIB	     LIBEXECDIR
		     LDFLAGS_SHLIB   SYSCONFDIR
		     LIBS_SHLIB
		   Use this for manually determining settings. For instance use
		     INC=-I`apxs -q INCLUDEDIR`
		   inside your own Makefiles if you need manual access to Apache's C header files.

       Configuration options:

       -S name=value
		   This option changes the apxs settings described above.

       Template Generation options:

       -g	   This  generates a subdirectory name (see option -n) and there two files: A sample module source file named mod_name.c which can
		   be used as a template for creating your own modules or as a quick start for playing with the APXS mechanism.  And a correspond-
		   ing Makefile for even easier build and installing of this module.

       DSO compilation options:

       -c	   This  indicates  the  compilation operation. It first compiles the C source files (.c) of files into corresponding object files
		   (.o) and then builds a dynamically shared object in dsofile by linking these object files plus the remaining object	files  (.o
		   and	.a)  of  files	If  no -o option is specified the output file is guessed from the first filename in files and thus usually
		   defaults to mod_name.so

       -o dsofile  Explicitly specifies the filename of the created dynamically shared object. If not specified and the  name  cannot  be  guessed
		   from the files list, the fallback name mod_unknown.so is used.

       -D name=value
		   This option is directly passed through to the compilation command(s).  Use this to add your own defines to the build process.

       -I incdir   This  option  is directly passed through to the compilation command(s).  Use this to add your own include directories to search
		   to the build process.

       -L libdir   This option is directly passed through to the linker command.  Use this to add your own library directories to  search  to  the
		   build process.

       -l libname  This  option  is  directly  passed  through	to  the linker command.  Use this to add your own libraries to search to the build
		   process.

       -Wc,compiler-flags
		   This option passes compiler-flags as additional flags to the  compiler  command.   Use  this  to  add  local  compiler-specific
		   options.

       -Wl,linker-flags
		   This option passes linker-flags as additional flags to the linker command.  Use this to add local linker-specific options.

       DSO installation and configuration options:

       -i	   This  indicates the installation operation and installs one or more dynamically shared objects into the server's modules direc-
		   tory.

       -a	   This activates the module by automatically adding a corresponding LoadModule line to Apache's httpd.conf configuration file, or
		   by enabling it if it already exists.

       -A	   Same  as  option -a but the created LoadModule directive is prefixed with a hash sign (#), i.e. the module is just prepared for
		   later activation but initially disabled.

       -e	   This indicates the editing operation, which can be used with the -a and -A options  similarly  to  the  -i  operation  to  edit
		   Apache's httpd.conf configuration file without attempting to install the module.

EXAMPLES

       Assume  you have an Apache module named mod_foo.c available which should extend Apache's server functionality. To accomplish this you first
       have to compile the C source into a shared object suitable for loading into the Apache server under runtime via the following command:

	 $ apxs -c mod_foo.c
	 gcc -fpic -DSHARED_MODULE -I/path/to/apache/include -c mod_foo.c
	 ld -Bshareable -o mod_foo.so mod_foo.o
	 $ _

       Then you have to update the Apache configuration by making sure a LoadModule directive is present to load this shared object.  To  simplify
       this  step  apxs provides an automatic way to install the shared object in its "modules" directory and updating the httpd.conf file accord-
       ingly. This can be achieved by running:

	 $ apxs -i -a mod_foo.c
	 cp mod_foo.so /path/to/apache/modules/mod_foo.so
	 chmod 755 /path/to/apache/modules/mod_foo.so
	 [activating module `foo' in /path/to/apache/etc/httpd.conf]
	 $ _

       This way a line named

	 LoadModule foo_module modules/mod_foo.so

       is added to the configuration file if still not present.  If you want to have this disabled per default use the -A option, i.e.

	 $ apxs -i -A mod_foo.c

       For a quick test of the APXS mechanism you can create a sample Apache module template plus a corresponding Makefile via:

	 $ apxs -g -n foo
	 Creating [DIR]  foo
	 Creating [FILE] foo/Makefile
	 Creating [FILE] foo/mod_foo.c
	 $ _

       Then you can immediately compile this sample module into a shared object and load it into the Apache server:

	 $ cd foo
	 $ make all reload
	 apxs -c mod_foo.c
	 gcc -fpic -DSHARED_MODULE -I/path/to/apache/include -c mod_foo.c
	 ld -Bshareable -o mod_foo.so mod_foo.o
	 apxs -i -a -n "foo" mod_foo.so
	 cp mod_foo.so /path/to/apache/modules/mod_foo.so
	 chmod 755 /path/to/apache/modules/mod_foo.so
	 [activating module `foo' in /path/to/apache/etc/httpd.conf]
	 apachectl restart
	 /path/to/apache/sbin/apachectl restart: httpd not running, trying to start
	 [Tue Mar 31 11:27:55 1998] [debug] mod_so.c(303): loaded module foo_module
	 /path/to/apache/sbin/apachectl restart: httpd started
	 $ _

       You can even use apxs to compile complex modules outside the Apache source tree, like PHP3:

	 $ cd php3
	 $ ./configure --with-shared-apache=../apache-1.3
	 $ apxs -c -o libphp3.so mod_php3.c libmodphp3-so.a
	 gcc -fpic -DSHARED_MODULE -I/tmp/apache/include  -c mod_php3.c
	 ld -Bshareable -o libphp3.so mod_php3.o libmodphp3-so.a
	 $ _

       because apxs automatically recognized C source files and object files.  Only C source files are compiled while remaining object	files  are
       used for the linking phase.

SEE ALSO

       apachectl(1), httpd(8).

								    April 1998								   apxs(8)