The Semi-Official Guide to Porting Apache

-------------
Introduction:
-------------
Apache has been ported to a wide variety of platforms, from multiple
UNIX variants to OS/2. Starting with v1.3, it will even run under
Windows95 and Windows NT. Nonetheless, there are most likely a few
platforms out there that currently are not "officially" supported under
Apache. Porting Apache to these platforms can be quite simple
depending on the "genericness" of the OS. This document will provide
some basic guidelines to help the potential porter.

-------------
Requirements:
-------------
One of the basic requirements for a potential Apache platform is
a robust TCP/IP implementation. Just about any UNIX out there
nowadays, even some ancient ones, have a TCP/IP stack that will
work. In particular, the UNIX should provide for sockets and the
basic controlling functions for them (like accept(), bind(), etc).

The source for Apache is written in ANSI-C, so an ANSI-C compiler
is required. However, Apache does not use or require ANSI-only
functions or options (eg: the "%n" parameter in the scanf()
family) as much as possible to ease portability. Generally,
an ANSI-C compiler (eg: gcc) even without a full-blown ANSI
C library is usually sufficient.

At present, the Apache source is not compatible with C++.

-------------------
The Starting Point:
-------------------
The first thing to look at is the output of the ./helpers/GuessOS
script. This is a simple script that attempts to determine the
platform and OS you are running on. The output of this script
is used by Configure to set some basic compilation parameters.

The output of ./helpers/GuessOS was designed to be GNU 'config.guess'
compatible (from GNU/autoconf). The format of the output string
is:

   machine-vendor-OS

This string is returned to the main Configure script as the
shell variable $PLAT. If Configure is not "aware" of that platform
(or cannot correctly parse it), it will complain and die. We realize
that this may not be the best solution; the intent is to get as
much feedback as possible.

----------------------
Configure cannot Grok:
----------------------
If this happens to you, then it means that Configure doesn't know
how to configure and compile Apache for your OS. It will still try
nonetheless, but at this point, all bets are off.

The best solution if this happens to you is to make Apache aware
of your OS.  The first course of action is the easiest:  Look in
Configure and see if there are any OSs which are similar to yours.

For example, let's say that your OS is similar to HP-UX, but that
GuessOS returns "foobar-intel-hubble". You would then edit
Configure as follows:

    *-hp-hpux*|*-*-hubble)
	OS='HP-UX'
	CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -DHPUX"
	;;

The '|*-*-hubble' was added to the switch statement for HP-UX.

Another fix may involve editing the GuessOS helper script. Let's
say, for example, that your system is SysV4-based, but that
GuessOS does not return that info. You could then add a switch
to the script that does something like:

	*WeirdSystem*)
	    echo "${MACHINE}-whatever-sysv4"; exit 0
	    ;;

In this case, we force GuessOS to return a string that includes
the "sysv4" cookie for Configure to recognize.

Unfortunately, unless you are running a very generic BSD or SysV
system, no "supported" OS will be close enough in all aspects to
allow for a clear (and possibly workable) build of Apache. If this
is the case, you will need to port Apache to your OS.

-------------------
Porting for Apache:
-------------------
When all else fails, it's time to hack some code. The source itself
is generic enough that most ports are incredibly easy. No matter
what, however, there are 2 source files that need to be updated
for the port:

   ./Configure
   ./include/ap_config.h

Configure:
==========
Configure concerns itself with determining the OS-type for the
build and setting up a few Makefile variables for the build. The
most important are 'OS' and 'CFLAGS'. For example, when Configure
determines a build for A/UX, it runs the following lines:

  case "$PLAT" in
    *-apple-aux3*)
	OS='A/UX 3.1.x'
	CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -DAUX -D_POSIX_SOURCE"
	LIBS="$LIBS -lposix -lbsd"
	LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS -s"
	DEF_WANTHSREGEX=no
	;;

The 'OS' variable is used to define the system Apache is being built
for. You will also note that 'CFLAGS' defines "-DAUX". In this case,
'AUX' is a magic cookie used by the Apache code (mainly ap_config.h [see
below]) to handle OS-specific code. Each code that has and requires
such OS-specific code will require a unique "system cookie" defined
in 'CFLAGS'. You will also note that Configure also goes ahead and
predefines the LIBS and LDFLAGS Makefile variables.

DEF_WANTHSREGEX indicates the "default" setting of the WANTHSREGEX rule.
If left undefined it'll default to yes.  Yes means the src/regex/
directory, containing Henry Spencer's regex library will be used rather
than any system supplied regex.  It's been our experience that system
supplied regex libraries are generally buggy, and should be avoided.

ap_config.h:
=======
The Apache code, specifically in ap_config.h, uses a variety of #defines to
control how the code is compiled and what options are available for each
supported OS. One of the hardest parts about the porting process is
determining which of the following are applicable for your system and
setup. This time using the example of AIX, we see:

   #elif defined(AIX)
   #undef HAVE_GMTOFF
   #undef NO_KILLPG
   #undef NO_SETSID
   #define HAVE_SYS_SELECT_H
   #define JMP_BUF sigjmp_buf
   #define HAVE_MMAP
   #define USE_MMAP_SCOREBOARD
   typedef int rlim_t;

The above lines describe which functions,  capabilities and specifics
are required for Apache to build and run under IBM AIX (the #undefs
are not strictly required, but are a Good Idea anyway).

The following several lines provide a list and short description
of these #defines. By correctly #defining the ones you need in ap_config.h
(wrapped by the above mentioned "system cookie"), you can fine tune the
build for your OS.

--

 NEED_*:
  If the particular OS doesn't supply the specified function, we use the
  Apache-supplied version (in util.c). 

    NEED_STRERROR:
    NEED_STRDUP:
    NEED_STRCASECMP:
    NEED_STRNCASECMP:
    NEED_INITGROUPS:
    NEED_WAITPID:
    NEED_STRERROR:
--

 HAVE_*:
  Does this OS have/support this capability?

    HAVE_MMAP:
      The OS has a working mmap() implementation

    HAVE_SHMGET:
      The OS has a working shmget() (SystemV shared memory) implementation

    HAVE_GMTOFF:
      Define if the OS's tm struct has the tm_gmtoff element

    HAVE_CRYPT_H:
      Defined if the OS has the <crypt.h> header file. This is set
      automatically during the Configure process and stored in the
      src/include/ap_config_auto.h header file.

    HAVE_SYS_SELECT_H:
      Defined if the OS has the <sys/select.h> header file. This is
      set automatically during the Configure process and stored in the
      src/include/ap_config_auto.h header file.

    HAVE_SYS_RESOURCE_H:
      Defined if the OS has and supports the getrlimit/setrlimit
      family. Apache uses this to determine if RLIMIT_CPU|VMEM|DATA|RLIMIT
      is found and used. This also assumes that the getrlimit()/setrlimit()
      functions are available as well. This is set automatically during the
      Configure process and stored in the src/include/ap_config_auto.h header
      file.

    HAVE_SYS_PARAM_H:
      Defined if the OS has the <sys/param.h> header file. This is
      set automatically during the Configure process and stored in the
      src/include/ap_config_auto.h header file.

--

 USE_*:
  These #defines are used for functions and ability that aren't exactly
  required but should be used.

     USE_MMAP_SCOREBOARD:
      Define if the OS supports the BSD mmap() call. This is used by various
      OSs to allow the scoreboard file to be held in shared mmapped-memory
      instead of a real file.  Note that this is only used to determine
      if mmap should be used for shared memory. If HAVE_MMAP is not
      #defined, this will automatically be unset.

     USE_SHMGET_SCOREBOARD:
      Define if the OS has the SysV-based shmget() family of shared-memory
      functions. Used to allow the scoreboard to live in a shared-memory
      slot instead of a real file. If HAVE_SHMGET is not #defined,
      this will automatically be unset.

     <<NOTE: If neither USE_MMAP_SCOREBOARD or USE_SHMGET_SCOREBOARD
	     is defined, a file-based scoreboard will be used and
	     SCOREBOARD_FILE will automatically be defined >>

     USE_POSIX_SCOREBOARD:
      Defined on QNX currently where the shared memory scoreboard follows
      the POSIX 1003.4 spec.
    
     USE_OS2_SCOREBOARD:
      Defined on OS2, uses OS2 primitives to construct shared memory for
      the scoreboard.

     USE_LONGJMP:
      Define to use the longjmp() call instead of siglongjmp()
      (as well as setjmp() instead of sigsetjmp()).

     USE_MMAP_FILES:
      Enable the use of mmap() for sending static files. If HAVE_MMAP
      is not #defined, this will automatically be unset.

 USE_*_SERIALIZED_ACCEPT:
  See htdocs/manual/misc/perf-tuning.html for an in-depth discussion of
  why these are required.  These are choices for implementing a semaphore
  between children entering accept().  A complete port should define one
  of these, many may work and it's worthwhile timing them.  Without these
  the server will not implement multiple Listen directives reliably.

     USE_FCNTL_SERIALIZED_ACCEPT:
      Use fcntl() to implement the semaphore.

     USE_FLOCK_SERIALIZED_ACCEPT:
      Use flock() to implement the semaphore (fcntl() is expensive on
      some OSs, esp.  when using NFS).

     USE_USLOCK_SERIALIZED_ACCEPT:
      Probably IRIX only: use uslock() to serialize, which is far faster
      on multiprocessor boxes (and far slower on uniprocessor, yay).

     USE_SYSVSEM_SERIALIZED_ACCEPT:
      Use System V semaphores to implement the semaphore.  These are
      problematic in that they won't be cleaned up if apache is kill -9d,
      and there's the potential of a CGI causing a denial of service
      attack if it's running as the same uid as apache (i.e. suexec
      is recommended on public servers).  But they can be faster than
      either of fcntl() or flock() on some systems.

     USE_PTHREAD_SERIALIZED_ACCEPT:
      Use POSIX mutexes to implement the semaphore.

     << NOTE: If none of the above USE_*SERIALIZED_ACCEPTs are
	      defined, NO_SERIALIZED_ACCEPT will automatically
	      be defined if MULTITHREAD is not defined >>

     SINGLE_LISTEN_UNSERIALIZED_ACCEPT:
      It's safe to unserialize single-socket accept().

--

  NO_*:
   These are defined if the OS does NOT have the specified function or if
   we should not use it.

      NO_SHMGET:
       Do not use shmget() (SystemV shared memory) at all.

      NO_MMAP:
       Do not use mmap() at all.

      NO_UNISTD_H:

      NO_KILLPG:

      NO_SETSID:

      NO_USE_SIGACTION:
       Do not use the sigaction() call, even if we have it.

      NO_LINGCLOSE:
       Do not use Apache's soft, "lingering" close feature to
       terminate connections. If you find that your server crashes
       due to being choked by too many FIN_WAIT_2 network states, 
       some reports indicate that #define'ing this will help.

      NO_SLACK:
       Do not use the "slack" fd feature which requires a working fcntl
       F_DUPFD.

      NO_GETTIMEOFDAY:
       OS does not have the gettimeofday() function (which is
       BSDish).

      NO_TIMES:
       OS does not have the times() function.

      NO_OTHER_CHILD:
       Do not implement the register_other_child API, usually because
       certain system calls aren't available.

      NO_RELIABLE_PIPED_LOGS:
       Do not use reliable piped logs, which happen to also require
       the register_other_child API.  The reliable piped log code
       requires another child spawning interface which hasn't been
       generalised yet.

--

  MISC #DEFINES:
   Various other #defines used in the code.

      MULTITHREAD:
       Defined if the OS is multi-threaded. Valid only on
       Win32 at present.

      JMP_BUF:
       The variable-type for siglongjmp() or longjmp() call.

      MOVEBREAK:
       Amount to move sbrk() breakpoint, if required, before attaching
       shared-memory segment.

      NET_SIZE_T:
       Some functions such as accept(), getsockname(), getpeername() take
       an int *len on some architectures and a size_t *len on others.
       If left undefined apache will default it to int.  See
       include/ap_config.h for a description of NET_SIZE_T.

      NEED_HASHBANG_EMUL:
       The execve()/etc. functions on this platform do not deal with #!,
       so it must be emulated by Apache.

      SYS_SIGLIST
       Should be defined to point to a const char * const * array of
       signal descriptions.  This is frequently sys_siglist or
       _sys_siglist, defined in <signals.h>

      ap_wait_t
       The type used for wait()/waitpid()/... status parameter.  Usually
       int.

-----------
Conclusion:
-----------
The above hints, and a good understanding of your OS and Apache, will
go a LONG way in helping you get Apache built and running on your
OS. If you have a port, PLEASE send Email to 'Apache@Apache.Org',
or log a suggestion report at <http://bugs.apache.org/>, with
the patches so that we may add them to the official version.
If you hit a rough spot in the porting process, you can also try
sending Email to that address as well and, if you are lucky, someone
will respond. Another good source is the 'comp.infosystems.www.servers.unix'
Usenet group as well.

Good luck and happy porting!

