Configuring and Installing Apache for Cygwin

Apache on Cygwin is configured and compiled the same way as on most Unix systems. Refer to the general configuration and installation documents for details.

There are three ways to configure and build Apache for Cygwin, depending on how additional Apache modules should be used:

• Static linked version

  To build a static linked version of httpd including additional modules, use the following commands in the shell:

    $ cd apache_1.3.x
    $ ./configure [--enable-module=module|--add-module=/path/to/module]
    $ make
  

  This will produce the required extra libraries or object files for module and link everything to src/httpd.exe.

• Shared core, DLL linked version ('one-for-all' version)

  To build a DLL version of httpd including additional modules, use the following commands:

    $ cd apache_1.3.x
    $ ./configure --enable-rule=SHARED_CORE \
         [--enable-module=module|--add-module=/path/to/module]
    $ make
    $ make install
  

  This will produce the required extra libraries or object files that hold all static linked code. Then dllwrap and dlltool will export all of those (including any additional module code) to the shared cyghttpd.dll and create the libhttpd.a import library which is required for linking httpd.exe.

  Note: After make install is performed you will find the resulting core DLL module cyghttpd.dll within /usr/local/apache/libexec. This is due to the installation process. Please move the file to Apache's bin directory, i.e.

    $ mv /usr/local/apache/libexec/cyghttpd.dll /usr/local/apache/bin
  

  or to an other place inside your $PATH, i.e. /usr/bin is used in the Cygwin Net Distribution layout. The core DLL module cyghttpd.dll is the only file that should reside in /usr/local/apache/bin directory. All other shared DLL modules mod_foo.dll should be located in /usr/local/apache/libexec.

• Shared DLL modules linked version

  This method is ONLY supported using a version of ld.exe which supports the --auto-import option. Please see the requirements section for more information.

  To build a dynamic loadable DLL version of httpd which can load DLL modules on the fly (at runtime), proceed as follows:

  • First build Apache's shared core as follows:

      $ cd apache_1.3.x
      $ ./configure --enable-rule=SHARED_CORE --enable-module=so \
           [--enable-module=module|--add-module=/path/to/module] \
           [--enable-shared=module]
      $ make
    

    You will notice that there is a warning message shown which lets you know that the shared core DLL library src/cyghttpd.dll is missing while trying to link the shared DLL modules mod_foo.dll.

    Unfortunately, during Apache's build process, the shared modules are linked before the shared core import library src/cyghttpd.dll has been made. The shared modules depend on this import library, so they cannot link for the first time you run make.

  • Re-run make to build the shared module DLLs and install the whole package to the installation directory:

      $ make
      $ make install
    

    All shared modules are placed into libexec, including the shared core DLL cyghttpd.dll. When Apache's /bin/httpd is started, it has to dynamically link cyghttpd.dll during runtime; that is why you have to place the shared core DLL cyghttpd.dll to the same directory where httpd.exe resides, i.e. /usr/local/apache/bin or an other place in your $PATH.

  • Add configuration directives to conf/httpd.conf to load and activate shared DLL modules at runtime:

      # httpd.conf
      [...]
      LoadModule foo_module   libexec/mod_foo.dll
      AddModule mod_foo.c
      [...]
    

• Using apxs to create shared DLL modules

  To make the extending httpd with shared DLL modules easier, you can use apxs.

  Make sure you have configured $CFG_LDFLAGS_SHLIB within apxs to include the --shared directive and the path to the shared code DLL cyghttpd.dll.

  After performing make install you will probably have the following lines within your apxs:

    # apxs
    [...]
    my $CFG_LD_SHLIB      = q(dllwrap --export-all --output-def libhttpd.def --implib libhttpd.a 
  --driver-name gcc);

  # substituted via Makefile.tmpl
    my $CFG_LDFLAGS_SHLIB = q(-g); # substituted via Makefile.tmpl 
    my $CFG_LIBS_SHLIB    = q();        # substituted via Makefile.tmpl 
    [...]
  

  Change these to reflect the new compile options needed for shared DLL modules as follows:

    # apxs
    [...]
    my $CFG_LD_SHLIB      = q(gcc);          # substituted via Makefile.tmpl
    my $CFG_LDFLAGS_SHLIB = q(-g --shared); # substituted via Makefile.tmpl 
    my $CFG_LIBS_SHLIB    = q(/path/to/cyghttpd.dll);        # substituted via Makefile.tmpl 
    [...]
  

  Now you should be able to create a shared DLL module from a mod_foo.c source file with:

    $ apxs -c mod_foo.c -o mod_foo.dll
  

  Place the resulting DLL in Apache's libexec directory, so the dlopen() function within the compiled in mod_so.c module can find and load it at runtime.

Using Win32 native socket implementation instead

Apache for Cygwin supports an option to use the Win32 native socket calls instead of Cygwin's POSIX wrappers internally. To use the Win32 native socket calls configure Apache for Cygwin with the CYGWIN_WINSOCK configuration rule flag as follows:

  $ cd apache_1.3.x
  $ ./configure --enable-rule=CYGWIN_WINSOCK [...]
  $ make

Using Win32 native socket calls is intended for performance reasons and as a hybrid way to interact with the underlying native socket implementation.

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