apxs man page on MirBSD

apxs man page on MirBSD

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APXS(8) BSD System Manager's Manual APXS(8)

NAME
apxs - APache eXtenSion tool

SYNOPSIS
apxs -c [-D variable[=value]] [-I incdir] [-L libdir] [-l libname]
[-o dsofile] [-S variable=value] [-Wc,compiler-flags]
[-Wl,linker-flags] file ...
apxs -e [-Aa] [-n name] [-S variable=value] dsofile ...
apxs -g [-S variable=value] -n name
apxs -i [-Aa] [-n name] [-S variable=value] dsofile ...
apxs -q [-S variable=value] query ...

DESCRIPTION
apxs is a tool for building and installing extension modules for the Hy-
perText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server, httpd(8). This is achieved by
building a Dynamic Shared Object (DSO) from one or more source or object
files which can then be loaded into httpd at runtime via the LoadModule
directive from mod_so. To use this extension mechanism, your platform has
to support the DSO feature and the httpd binary has to be built with the
mod_so module. The apxs tool automatically complains if this is not the
case. Check by manually running the following command:

$ httpd -l

The module mod_so should be part of the displayed list. If these require-
ments are fulfilled, httpd's functionality can be extended by installing
modules with the DSO mechanism, with the help of the apxs tool:

# apxs -i -a -c mod_foo.c
gcc -O2 -pipe -DDEV_RANDOM=/dev/arandom -DMOD_SSL=208116 -DEAPI -DUSE_SETUSERCONTEXT -fPIC -DSHARED_MODULE -I/usr/libexec/httpd/include -c mod_foo.c
[activating module `foo' in /var/www/conf/httpd.conf]
cp mod_foo.so /usr/libexec/httpd/modules/mod_foo.so
chmod 755 /usr/libexec/httpd/modules/mod_foo.so
cp /var/www/conf/httpd.conf /var/www/conf/httpd.conf.bak
cp /var/www/conf/httpd.conf.new /var/www/conf/httpd.conf
rm /var/www/conf/httpd.conf.new
# kill $(</var/www/logs/httpd.pid)
# httpd [flags]

The argument file can be any C source file (.c), an object file (.o), or
even a library archive (.a). The apxs tool automatically recognizes these
extensions and automatically uses the C source files for compilation,
whereas it just uses 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 DSO. For in-
stance, with gcc(1) just use -fpic. For other C compilers, please consult
their manual pages or watch for the flags apxs uses to compile the object
files.

For more details about DSO support in httpd, first read the background
information about DSO in htdocs/manual/dso.html, then read the documenta-
tion of mod_so.

The options are as follows:

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

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

-c Compile. This option first compiles the C source files (.c) of
file ... into corresponding object files (.o) and then builds a
DSO in dsofile by linking these object files plus the remaining
object files (.o and .a) of file ... If no -o option is speci-
fied, the output file is guessed from the first filename in file
... and thus usually defaults to mod_name.so

-D variable[=value]
This option is directly passed through to the compilation
command(s). Use this to add your own defines to the build pro-
cess.

-e Edit. This option can be used with the -a and -A options to edit
the configuration file, /var/www/conf/httpd.conf, without at-
tempting to install the module.

-g Template generation. This option generates a subdirectory name
(see the -n option) and 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 corresponding Makefile for even easier building
and installing of this module.

-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.

-i Install. This option installs one or more DSOs into the server's
libexec directory.

-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.

-n name
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, apxs
tries to determine the name from the source or (as a fallback) at
least by guessing it from the filename.

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

-q Query. This option performs a query for apxs's knowledge about
certain settings. The query parameters can be one or more of the
following variable names:

CC TARGET
CFLAGS SBINDIR
CFLAGS_SHLIB INCLUDEDIR
LD_SHLIB LIBEXECDIR
LDFLAGS_SHLIB SYSCONFDIR
LIBS_SHLIB PREFIX

Use this for manually determining settings. For instance, use the
following inside your own Makefiles if you need manual access to
httpd's C header files:

INC=-I`apxs -q INCLUDEDIR`

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

-Wc,compiler-flags
This option passes compiler-flags as additional flags to the com-
piler command. Use this to add local compiler-specific options.
This option may be specified multiple times in order to pass mul-
tiple flags.

-Wl,linker-flags
This option passes linker-flags as additional flags to the linker
command. Use this to add local linker-specific options. This op-
tion may be specified multiple times in order to pass multiple
flags.

EXAMPLES
Assume you have a module named "mod_foo.c" available which should extend
httpd's functionality. To accomplish this, first compile the C source
into a DSO suitable for loading into httpd at runtime via the following
command:

# apxs -c mod_foo.c
gcc -O2 -pipe -DDEV_RANDOM=/dev/arandom -DMOD_SSL=208116 -DEAPI -DUSE_SETUSERCONTEXT -fPIC -DSHARED_MODULE -I/usr/libexec/httpd/include -c mod_foo.c
gcc -shared -fPIC -DSHARED_MODULE -o mod_foo.so mod_foo.o

Then a LoadModule directive has to be added to httpd's configuration file
to load the DSO. To simplify this step, apxs provides an automatic way to
install the DSO in the "libexec" directory and update the httpd.conf file
accordingly. This can be achieved by running the following:

$ apxs -i -a mod_foo.so
[activating module `foo' in /var/www/conf/httpd.conf]
cp mod_foo.so /usr/libexec/httpd/modules/mod_foo.so
chmod 755 /usr/libexec/httpd/modules/mod_foo.so
cp /var/www/conf/httpd.conf /var/www/conf/httpd.conf.bak
cp /var/www/conf/httpd.conf.new /var/www/conf/httpd.conf
rm /var/www/conf/httpd.conf.new

This way a line such as the following is added to the configuration file:

LoadModule foo_module /usr/libexec/httpd/modules/mod_foo.so

If you want the module added to the configuration file without it being
enabled, use the -A option instead:

$ apxs -i -A mod_foo.so

For a quick test of the apxs mechanism, create a sample module template
plus a corresponding Makefile via:

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

The sample module can then be immediately compiled into a DSO and loaded
into the httpd server:

$ cd foo
$ make all reload
apxs -c mod_foo.c
gcc -O2 -pipe -DDEV_RANDOM=/dev/arandom -DMOD_SSL=208116 -DEAPI -DUSE_SETUSERCONTEXT -fPIC -DSHARED_MODULE -I/usr/libexec/httpd/include -c mod_foo.c
gcc -shared -fPIC -DSHARED_MODULE -o mod_foo.so mod_foo.o
apxs -i -a -n 'foo' mod_foo.so
[activating module `foo' in /var/www/conf/httpd.conf]
cp mod_foo.so /usr/libexec/httpd/modules/mod_foo.so
chmod 755 /usr/libexec/httpd/modules/mod_foo.so
cp /var/www/conf/httpd.conf /var/www/conf/httpd.conf.bak
cp /var/www/conf/httpd.conf.new /var/www/conf/httpd.conf
rm /var/www/conf/httpd.conf.new
kill $(</var/www/logs/httpd.pid)
httpd [flags]

apxs can even be used to compile complex modules outside the httpd source
tree, like PHP3, because apxs automatically recognizes C source files and
object files.

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

Only C source files are compiled, while remaining object files are used
for the linking phase.