Apachectl hanging if server not up

[David Harris <dh...@drh.net>]

Hi,

I wrote a little script to check my web server and see if it's up which is
just a front end to apachectl using the "status" and "start" commands.
However, there is a problem with apachectl... if you do a "status" request
and the web server is not up, lynx hangs trying to open a TCP connection...
for minutes, not seconds. This is fine for human use of apachectl because
you just terminate it when it hangs, but this breaks my script.

Here's my solution:

#####
--- apachectl.orig      Wed May 12 22:42:04 1999
+++ apachectl   Wed May 12 22:48:07 1999
@@ -136,10 +136,14 @@
        fi
        ;;
     status)
-       $LYNX $STATUSURL | awk ' /process$/ { print; exit } { print } '
+       if [ $RUNNING -eq 1 ]; then
+           $LYNX $STATUSURL | awk ' /process$/ { print; exit } { print } '
+       fi
        ;;
     fullstatus)
-       $LYNX $STATUSURL
+       if [ $RUNNING -eq 1 ]; then
+           $LYNX $STATUSURL
+       fi
        ;;
     configtest)
        if $HTTPD -t; then
#####

No need running lynx to get the status page if the server is not up...

Perhaps there is a way to set a timeout on lynx, but I don't see it.

(On second thought, my little script was useless.. I should just do a
"apachectl start" which does not start the server if it looks like it's
running. Sigh.)

 - David Harris
   Principal Engineer, DRH Internet Services