[Bug 55654] New: Extract variables from configuration without starting server

[bu...@apache.org]

https://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=55654

            Bug ID: 55654
           Summary: Extract variables from configuration without starting
                    server
           Product: Apache httpd-2
           Version: 2.5-HEAD
          Hardware: PC
                OS: Linux
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: Runtime Config
          Assignee: bugs@httpd.apache.org
          Reporter: rbowen@apache.org

httpd -DDUMP_CONFIG gets you a dump of the configuration, but starts up the
server. It would be handy to be able to extract certain values from the
configuration without starting a server process. For example, it would be
useful to be able to determine the configured value of User and Group before
starting the server.

Context: The Debian/Ubuntu package of httpd has a modified version of
apachectl, specifically so that it can know the value of User ahead of time, in
order that certain runtime directories can be created.

>From IRC:

<daemonkeeper> DrBacchus: Thing is we need a reliable way to know the apache
user/group in the init script to create volatile directories (e.g.
/var/run/apache2) at boot time. There is no sane way to get that information
without starting the server.

-- 
You are receiving this mail because:
You are the assignee for the bug.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: bugs-unsubscribe@httpd.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: bugs-help@httpd.apache.org

[Bug 55654] Extract variables from configuration without starting server

[bu...@apache.org]

https://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=55654

--- Comment #1 from Arno Töll <ar...@debian.org> ---
For context, to fully understand the problem:

Debian/Ubuntu packages set - for example - the httpd user in its httpd.conf to
${APACHE_RUN_USER}, a non-terminal value which is interpreted and evaluated at
runtime by apachectl with information sourced from /etc/apache2/envvars. 

The downside of that is, that you cannot start apache simply by executing
"httpd start" (or "apache2 start" effectively on Debianish systems), but you
have to use apachectl and you have an additional layer of indirection.

The background is, that we need reliably to know what the user is set to, so
that, for example, we can create volatile directories at boot/start time BEFORE
apache starts. Now, you know yourself how many funny ways are define a
configuration key in Apache to the server context. For example, think of keys
learned through inclusion of third files etc. 

It's just not reliable to simply parse the main httpd.conf file without having
access to the full httpd configuration file parser engine. That's why we did it
the way we did by adding that layer of indirection.

-- 
You are receiving this mail because:
You are the assignee for the bug.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: bugs-unsubscribe@httpd.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: bugs-help@httpd.apache.org

[Bug 55654] Extract variables from configuration without starting server

[bu...@apache.org]

https://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=55654

Petter Berntsen <pe...@gmail.com> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |petterb@gmail.com

-- 
You are receiving this mail because:
You are the assignee for the bug.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: bugs-unsubscribe@httpd.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: bugs-help@httpd.apache.org

[Bug 55654] Extract variables from configuration without starting server

[bu...@apache.org]

https://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=55654

Arno Töll <ar...@debian.org> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |arno@debian.org

-- 
You are receiving this mail because:
You are the assignee for the bug.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: bugs-unsubscribe@httpd.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: bugs-help@httpd.apache.org