Programs httpd - Apache Hypertext Transfer Protocol Server

httpd is the Apache HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server program. It is designed to be run as a standalone daemon process. When used like this it will create a pool of child processes or threads to handle requests.

In general, httpd should not be invoked directly, but rather should be invoked via apachectl on Unix-based systems or as a service on Windows NT, 2000 and XP and as a console application on Windows 9x and ME.

 Starting Apache httpd Stopping Apache httpd Configuration Files Platform-specific Documentation apachectl
Synopsis

httpd [ -d serverroot ] [ -f config ] [ -C directive ] [ -c directive ] [ -D parameter ] [ -e level ] [ -E file ] [ -k start|restart|graceful|stop|graceful-stop ] [ -h ] [ -l ] [ -L ] [ -S ] [ -t ] [ -v ] [ -V ] [ -X ] [ -M ] [ -T ]

On Windows systems, the following additional arguments are available:

httpd [ -k install|config|uninstall ] [ -n name ] [ -w ]

Options
-d serverroot
Set the initial value for the ServerRoot directive to serverroot. This can be overridden by the ServerRoot directive in the configuration file. The default is /usr/local/apache2.
-f config
Uses the directives in the file config on startup. If config does not begin with a /, then it is taken to be a path relative to the ServerRoot. The default is conf/httpd.conf.
-k start|restart|graceful|stop|graceful-stop
Signals httpd to start, restart, or stop. See Stopping Apache httpd for more information.
-C directive
Process the configuration directive before reading config files.
-c directive
Process the configuration directive after reading config files.
-D parameter
Sets a configuration parameter which can be used with IfDefine sections in the configuration files to conditionally skip or process commands at server startup and restart. Also can be used to set certain less-common startup parameters including -DNO_DETACH (prevent the parent from forking) and -DFOREGROUND (prevent the parent from calling setsid() et al).
-e level
Sets the LogLevel to level during server startup. This is useful for temporarily increasing the verbosity of the error messages to find problems during startup.
-E file
Send error messages during server startup to file.
-h
Output a short summary of available command line options.
-l
Output a list of modules compiled into the server. This will not list dynamically loaded modules included using the LoadModule directive.
-L
Output a list of directives provided by static modules, together with expected arguments and places where the directive is valid. Directives provided by shared modules are not listed.
-M
Dump a list of loaded Static and Shared Modules.
-S
Show the settings as parsed from the config file (currently only shows the virtualhost settings).
-T (Available in 2.3.8 and later)
Skip document root check at startup/restart.
-t
Run syntax tests for configuration files only. The program immediately exits after these syntax parsing tests with either a return code of 0 (Syntax OK) or return code not equal to 0 (Syntax Error). If -D DUMP_VHOSTS is also set, details of the virtual host configuration will be printed. If -D DUMP_MODULES is set, all loaded modules will be printed. If -D DUMP_CERTS is set and mod_ssl is used, configured SSL certificates will be printed. If -D DUMP_CA__CERTS is set and mod_ssl is used, configured SSL CA certificates and configured directories containing SSL CA certificates will be printed.
-v
Print the version of httpd, and then exit.
-V
Print the version and build parameters of httpd, and then exit.
-X
Run httpd in debug mode. Only one worker will be started and the server will not detach from the console.

The following arguments are available only on the Windows platform:

-k install|config|uninstall
Install Apache httpd as a Windows NT service; change startup options for the Apache httpd service; and uninstall the Apache httpd service.
-n name
The name of the Apache httpd service to signal.
-w
Keep the console window open on error so that the error message can be read.