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<parentdocument href="./">Programs</parentdocument>

<title>apachectl - Apache HTTP Server Control Interface</title>

<summary>

<p><code>apachectl</code> is a front end to the Apache HyperText

Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server. It is designed to help the

administrator control the functioning of the Apache

<a href="httpd.html">httpd</a> daemon.</p>

<p>The <code>apachectl</code> script can operate in two modes.

First, it can act as a simple front-end to the <code>httpd</code>

command that simply sets any necessary environment variables and

then invokes <code>httpd</code>, passing through any command line

arguments. Second, <code>apachectl</code> can act as a SysV init

script, taking simple one-word arguments like <code>start</code>,

<code>restart</code>, and <code>stop</code>, and translating them

into appropriate signals to <code>httpd</code>.</p>

<p>If your Apache installation uses non-standard paths, you will

need to edit the <code>apachectl</code> script to set the

appropriate paths to the <code>httpd</code> binary. You can also

specify any necessary <code>httpd</code> command line arugments.

See the comments in the script for details.</p>

The <code>apachectl</code> script returns a 0 exit value on

success, and &gt;0 if an error occurs. For more details, view

the comments in the script.

</summary>

<seealso><a href="/invoking.html">Starting Apache</a></seealso>

<seealso><a href="/stopping.html">Stopping Apache</a></seealso>

<seealso><a href="/configuring.html">Configuration Files</a></seealso>

<seealso><a href="/platform/">Platform Docs</a></seealso>

<seealso><a href="httpd.html">httpd</a></seealso>

<section id="synopsis"><title>Synopsis</title>

<p>When acting in pass-through mode, <code>apachectl</code> can take

all the arguments available for the <a href="httpd.html">httpd</a>

binary.</p>

<p><code><strong>apachectl</strong> [ <var>httpd-argument</var> ]</code></p>

<p>When acting in SysV init mode, <code>apachectl</code> takes simple,

one-word commands, defined below.</p>

<p><code><strong>apachectl </strong> <var>command</var></code></p>

</section>

<section id="options"><title>Options</title>

<p>Only the SysV init-style options are defined here. Other arguments

are defined on the <a href="httpd.html">httpd</a> manual page.</p>

<dl>

<dt><code>start</code></dt>

<dd>Start the Apache <code>httpd</code> daemon. Gives an error if it

is already running. This is equivalent to <code>apachectl -k

start</code>.</dd>

<dt><code>stop</code></dt>

<dd>Stops the Apache <code>httpd</code> daemon. This is equivalent to

<code>apachectl -k stop</code>.</dd>

<dt><code>restart</code></dt>

<dd>Restarts the Apache <code>httpd</code> daemon. If the daemon is

not running, it is started. This command automatically checks the

configuration files as in <code>configtest</code> before initiating

the restart to make sure the daemon doesn't die. This is equivalent

to <code>apachectl -k restart</code>.</dd>

<dt><code>fullstatus</code></dt>

<dd>Displays a full status report from <module>mod_status</module>.

For this to work, you need to have <module>mod_status</module> enabled

on your server and a text-based browser such as <code>lynx</code>

available on your system. The URL used to access the status report

can be set by editing the <code>STATUSURL</code> variable in the

script.</dd>

<dt><code>status</code></dt>

<dd>Displays a brief status report. Similar to the

<code>fullstatus</code> option, except that the list of requests

currently being served is omitted.</dd>

<dt><code>graceful</code></dt>

<dd>Gracefully restarts the Apache <code>httpd</code> daemon. If the

daemon is not running, it is started. This differs from a normal

restart in that currently open connections are not aborted. A side

effect is that old log files will not be closed immediately. This

means that if used in a log rotation script, a substantial delay may

be necessary to ensure that the old log files are closed before

processing them. This command automatically checks the configura-

tion files as in <code>configtest</code> before initiating the

restart to make sure Apache doesn't die. This is equivalent to

<code>apachectl -k graceful</code>.</dd>

<dt><code>configtest</code></dt>

<dd>Run a configuration file syntax test. It parses the configuration

files and either reports <code>Syntax Ok</code>

or detailed information about the particular syntax error. This is

equivalent to <code>apachectl -t</code>.</dd>

</dl>

<p>The following additional option is available, but deprecated.</p>

<dl>

<dt><code>startssl</code></dt>

<dd>This is equivalent to <code>apachectl -k start -DSSL</code>. We

recommend that you use that command explictly, or you adjust your

<code>httpd.conf</code> to remove the <directive module="core"

type="section">IfDefine</directive> section so that SSL will always be

available.</dd>

</dl>

</section>

</manualpage>