itself. Practically all other distributed Apache httpd modules can then
be placed into a DSO by individually enabling the DSO build for
them via <code class="program"><a href="./programs/configure.html">configure</a></code>'s
- <code>--enable-<em>module</em>=shared</code> option as discussed
+ <code>--enable-mods-shared</code> option as discussed
in the <a href="install.html">install documentation</a>. After a
module is compiled into a DSO named <code>mod_foo.so</code> you
can use <code class="module"><a href="./mod/mod_so.html">mod_so</a></code>'s <code class="directive"><a href="./mod/mod_so.html#loadmodule">LoadModule</a></code> command in your
or restart.</p>
<p>To simplify this creation of DSO files for Apache httpd modules
- (especially for third-party modules) a new support program
+ (especially for third-party modules) a support program
named <code class="program"><a href="./programs/apxs.html">apxs</a></code> (<dfn>APache
eXtenSion</dfn>) is available. It can be used to build DSO based
modules <em>outside of</em> the Apache httpd source tree. The idea is
<ol>
<li>
- Build and install a <em>distributed</em> Apache httpd module, say
+ <p>Build and install a <em>distributed</em> Apache httpd module, say
<code>mod_foo.c</code>, into its own DSO
- <code>mod_foo.so</code>:
+ <code>mod_foo.so</code>:</p>
<div class="example"><p><code>
-$ ./configure --prefix=/path/to/install --enable-foo=shared<br />
+$ ./configure --prefix=/path/to/install --enable-foo --enable-mods-shared=foo<br />
$ make install
</code></p></div>
</li>
<li>
- Build and install a <em>third-party</em> Apache httpd module, say
- <code>mod_foo.c</code>, into its own DSO
- <code>mod_foo.so</code>:
+ <p>Configure Apache HTTP Server for <em>later installation</em> of shared
+ modules:</p>
<div class="example"><p><code>
-$ ./configure --add-module=<var>module_type</var>:/path/to/3rdparty/mod_foo.c \<br />
-<span class="indent">
- --enable-foo=shared<br />
-</span>
+$ ./configure --enable-so<br />
$ make install
</code></p></div>
</li>
<li>
- Configure Apache HTTP Server for <em>later installation</em> of shared
- modules:
+ <p>Configure Apache HTTP Server with all modules enabled, and loaded
+ as shared objects. You can then remove individual ones by
+ commenting out the <code class="directive"><a href="./mod/mod_so.html#loadmodule">LoadModule</a></code> directives in
+ <code>httpd.conf</code>.</p>
<div class="example"><p><code>
-$ ./configure --enable-so<br />
+$ ./configure --enable-modules=most --enable-mods-shared=all<br />
$ make install
</code></p></div>
+
+ <p>The <code>most</code> argument to
+ <code>--enable-modules</code> indicates that all modules
+ which are not experimental or example modules will be built.</p>
</li>
<li>
<div class="example"><p><code>
$ cd /path/to/3rdparty<br />
-$ apxs -c mod_foo.c<br />
-$ apxs -i -a -n foo mod_foo.la
+$ apxs -cia mod_foo.c
</code></p></div>
</li>
</ol>
use a <code class="directive"><a href="./mod/mod_so.html#loadmodule">LoadModule</a></code>
directive in <code>httpd.conf</code> to tell Apache httpd to activate
the module.</p>
+
+ <p>See the <a href="programs/apxs.html">apxs documentation</a> for more details.</p>
</div><div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="./images/up.gif" /></a></div>
<div class="section">
<h2><a name="background" id="background">Background</a></h2>
provides. On the other hand using shared objects for extending
a program is not used by a lot of programs.</p>
- <p>As of 1998 there were only a few software packages available
- which use the DSO mechanism to extend their
- functionality at run-time: Perl 5 (via its XS mechanism and the
- DynaLoader module), Netscape Server, <em>etc.</em> Starting
- with version 1.3, Apache HTTP Server joined the crew, because Apache httpd
- already uses a module concept to extend its functionality and
- internally uses a dispatch-list-based approach to link external
- modules into the Apache httpd core functionality. So, Apache httpd is
- really predestined for using DSO to load its modules at
- run-time.</p>
</div><div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="./images/up.gif" /></a></div>
<div class="section">
<h2><a name="advantages" id="advantages">Advantages and Disadvantages</a></h2>
third-party modules even after installation. This is at least
a great benefit for vendor package maintainers who can create
a Apache httpd core package and additional packages containing
- extensions like PHP3, mod_perl, mod_fastcgi,
+ extensions like PHP, mod_perl, mod_security,
<em>etc.</em></li>
<li>Easier Apache httpd module prototyping because with the
projects / apache / commitdiff