There are many important points before you begin compiling Apache. See Using Apache with Microsoft Windows before you begin.
Compiling Apache requires Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0 (or later) to be properly installed. It is easiest to compile with the command-line tools (nmake, etc...). Consult the VC++ manual to determine how to install them.
First, unpack the Apache distribution into an appropriate
directory. Open a command-line prompt, and change to the
src
subdirectory of the Apache distribution.
The master Apache makefile instructions are contained in the
Makefile.win
file. To compile Apache on Windows, simply
use one of the following commands:
nmake /f Makefile.win _apacher
(release build)
nmake /f Makefile.win _apached
(debug build)
These will both compile Apache. The latter will include debugging information in the resulting files, making it easier to find bugs and track down problems.
Apache can also be compiled using VC++'s Visual Studio development
environment. Although compiling Apache in this manner is not as
simple, it makes it possible to easily modify the Apache source, or
to compile Apache if the command-line tools are not installed.
Project files (.DSP
) are included for each of the
portions of Apache. To build Apache from the these projects files
you will need to build the following projects in this order:
regex\regex.dsp
lib\apr\aprlib.dsp
ap\ap.dsp
main\gen_uri_delims.dsp
main\gen_test_char.dsp
ApacheCore.dsp
Apache.dsp
os\win32
subdirectory contains
project files for the optional modules.
os\win32\ApacheModuleAuthAnon.dsp
os\win32\ApacheModuleCERNMeta.dsp
os\win32\ApacheModuleDigest.dsp
os\win32\ApacheModuleExpires.dsp
os\win32\ApacheModuleHeaders.dsp
os\win32\ApacheModuleInfo.dsp
os\win32\ApacheModuleRewrite.dsp
os\win32\ApacheModuleSpeling.dsp
os\win32\ApacheModuleStatus.dsp
os\win32\ApacheModuleUserTrack.dsp
support\
folder contains project files for additional
programs that are not part of the apache runtime, but are used by
the administrator to maintain password and log files.
support\htdigest.dsp
support\htpasswd.dsp
support\logresolve.dsp
support\rotatelogs.dsp
Once Apache has been compiled, it needs to be installed in its server
root directory. The default is the \Apache
directory, on the current hard drive.
To build and install all the files into the desired folder dir automatically, use one the following nmake commands:
nmake /f Makefile.win installr INSTDIR=dir
(for release build)
nmake /f Makefile.win installd INSTDIR=dir
(for debug build)
This will install the following:
dir\Apache.exe
- Apache executable
dir\aprlib.dll
- Apache Portable Runtime shared library
dir\ApacheCore.dll
- Apache Core application
dir\modules\ApacheModule*.dll
- Optional Apache
modules (7 files)
dir\support\*.exe
- Administrator support executables
dir\conf
- Empty configuration directory
dir\logs
- Empty logging directory
If you do not have nmake, or wish to install in a different directory, be sure to use a similar naming scheme, or use the following shortcut.
To simplify the process, dependencies between all projects are defined in the Microsoft VisualStudio workspace file:
src/Apache.dswThis assures that lower-level sources are rebuilt from within VisualStudio. The top level project is InstallBin, which invokes Makefile.win to move the compiled executables and dlls. You may personalize the INSTDIR= setting by changing the Settings for InstallBin, Build command line entry under the General tab. The default from within the InstallBin.dsp project is one level up (..) from the src tree.
Warning about building Apache from the development tree
Only the .dsp files are distributed between release builds. The .mak files are NOT regenerated, due to the tremendous waste of reviewer's time. Therefore, you cannot rely on the NMAKE commands above unless you -frequently- export all .mak files yourself from the project. This is unnecessary if you build from withing the Microsoft DeveloperStudio environment.
Before running the server you must fill out the conf directory. Copy the *.conf-dist-win from the distribution conf directory and rename *.conf. Edit the @@ServerRoot@@ entries to your actual server root (for example "C:\apache"). Copy over the conf/magic and conf/mime.types files as well.