apache-config

What?

This is an Apache configuration management script, inspired by a2enmod and co.

This script allows you to run simple commands like apache-config enable module rewrite instead of having to edit the configuration files manually, meaning it can be automated if needed.

The primary goal of this script is to be able to start with a "vanilla" Apache installation, and get multiple virtual hosts running, all without touching an existing .conf file.

Please note that this is experimental; I would strongly advise making a copy of your configuration before installing this script.

Please feel free to file an issue if you find it, and I'll work to get it fixed as soon as I can.

Why?

I've found myself growing more and more frustrated with managing local/development environments on macOS (and Linux distributions that don't have an equivalent of a2enmod), so this is an attempt at a "port" of the functionality of Debian's a2enmod to other platforms.

How?

Requirements

• httpd 2.2 or 2.4

  • The script needs to be able to find the httpd executable in its PATH

The script is written to be as POSIX-compliant as possible, but if you find any inadvertent errors or bashisms, please file an issue!

Basic overview of commands

• apache-config help prints a help message explaining the purpose of the script

  • apache-config help --verbose prints even more help text

• apache-config check checks that apache-config has been installed, exiting with a non-zero status if not

• apache-config install sets up the needed directories and configuration files

  • Please be aware, this command adds a few lines at the end of your existing httpd.conf file, but they can be removed easily if you ever want to uninstall

• apache-config list {type} {status} lists all files with the given type and status

  • The supported statuses are:

    • enabled: any currently-enabled files

    • available: any files in the {type}-available directory

    • disabled: any files in the {type}-available directory that are not enabled

• apache-config enable {type} {name} symlinks a file from an available folder into an enabled folder, from where Apache will include it

  • The different types and folder structure are discussed further below

• apache-config disable {type} {name} removes the links created by apache-config enable

• apache-config --quiet {command} can be used to silence status output from the script (--help excluded)

More information is available by running apache-config help once installed

Installation with homebrew (recommended)

homebrew is the recommended way of installing apache-config. This will take care of most of the initial setup, so you can get started more quickly. Simply run the commands below to get started:

brew tap MPLew-is/experimental
brew install apache-config
apache-config install

Manual installation

There isn't any reason the script can't be used on platforms other than macOS, but so far I've only tested it on CentOS, and briefly at that. If you want to use it on other platforms, you'll need to copy the script to your system, and run ./apache-config.sh install, or move it to somewhere included in your PATH.

Uninstallation

There's not really a nice way of uninstalling apache-config at the moment, due to editing your existing httpd.conf file. The easiest way is to open httpd.conf and remove all blocks that look like this:

Define VENDOR_MPLEWIS_CONFIG_CONTROLLER_{number}_{number} 'true'

<IfDefine VENDOR_MPLEWIS_CONFIG_CONTROLLER_{number}_{number}>
	<IfDefine !VENDOR_MPLEWIS_CONFIG_CONTROLLER>
		Define VENDOR_MPLEWIS_CONFIG_CONTROLLER '{number}_{number}'
		Include {Apache config root}/other/config-controller.conf
	</IfDefine>
</IfDefine>

After that, you can safely remove the other directory, unless your installation stored files there initially.

Where?

As of now, there are four types of configuration files supported, below, in the order in which they are included. There are no special requirements for any of these, but these are what I had in mind when writing the script:

• A module is meant to contain LoadModule directives and initial configuration of the modules if the defaults are not adequate

• A config is meant to contain server-wide directives, such as those that depend on multiple modules to run

  • I am currently using files of this type to configure mod_ssl and to add a few macros (using mod_macro) that are used by other configuration files

• A site is meant to contain directives related to initializing a host

  • This is where all of my VirtualHost blocks live

• A cleanup is meant to do anything that needs to be done after the VirtualHost blocks have been included

  • For instance, this is where I undefine the macros created in a config, which is the recommended practice to avoid possible naming conflicts

By default, a folder for each of these types is created upon install in a subfolder of the main Apache configuration directory. The basic structure looks like this:

- Apache configuration root

	- httpd.conf
	
	- extra
	
	- **other** (created if not present)
		
		- modules-available
		
		- modules-enabled
		
		- configs-available
		
		- configs-enabled
		
		- sites-available
		
		- sites-enabled
		
		- cleanups-available
		
		- cleanups-enabled

These folders serve largely the same purpose as in a2enmod and friends, with the files you want to be included copied or symlinked into the *-available directories, and then enabled from a terminal, which symlinks the files into the *-enabled directories, which are included into the Apache configuration files.

You should never place or edit files directly into the *-enabled folders; rather, use the enable and disable commands as intended. Anything placed into those folders can be deleted at any time without making a backup, as it is assumed that anything in that folder is a symlink.

Summary (TL;DR)

1. Copy or symlink your files into {Apache configuration root}/other/*-available (generally something like /usr/local/etc/apache2/2.4/other/*-available if you installed Apache using homebrew)

   • These files must end with .conf to be included in Apache's configuration

   • You can also provide the filename to the enable command, and it will copy your files into the available directory for you

2. Enable the file with apache-config enable {type} {name}

   • For instance, if you wanted to add a module named rewrite and copied a file named rewrite.conf to modules-available, the command would be apache-config enable module rewrite

   • If you provide a name that is not in the appropriate available directory, apache-config will treat it as a file, and if that file exists, will copy it into the available directory for you, changing the file extension to .conf in the process

3. Disable the file with apache-config disable {type} {name}

   • Just undoes #2

Random tips

You can append as many files of one type as you like to the command, for instance apache-config enable rewrite headers ssl .... This makes using the script with xargs a lot easier.

You can edit the script however works best for you. I've tried my best to put everything that could be considered "configuration" in a group of variables at the top of the file, so you can, for instance, easily change the directory from other to whatever you want.

Who?

Hi, I'm Mike, an IT administrator and full-stack developer, dealing primarily with LAMP-based stacks. I'm currently remotely managing a small group of development workstations whose primary users are unfamiliar with the internals of Apache and Unix/Linux scripting. Trying to manage the configuration files manually was getting to be too much of a hassle, so I decided I had enough, and here we are.