Q&A
Are there any tools available to help with Apache compilation?
Several programs, usually referred to as compilation kits, are designed to make it easier to compile Apache and additional modules. They present a text interface from which you can specify the desired options and modules to enable. The compilation tool takes care of downloading and patching the necessary software, and configuring and building it. You can find one of these tools at http://www.apachetoolbox.com, although it only supports 1.3 at the time of writing this book.
Why do some Apache releases seem to be missing?
When Apache developers agree it is time to make a new release of the server, they mark the sources with the release name and number and proceed to create the source and binary distribution packages, test them, place them in the Web site, and announce it to the world. If a severe problem is found in that testing, the release process is stopped until the problems are fixed. To avoid confusion, a new release name and number will be applied to the next release attempt that includes the new fixes. That is the reason why, for example, there were no public releases between Apache 2.0.16 and 2.0.28. You can always access any version using the CVS repository, as explained earlier in this hour.
How can I start a clean build?
If you need to build a new Apache from source and do not want the result of earlier builds to affect the new one, it is always a good idea to run the make clean command. That will take care of cleaning up any existing binaries, intermediate object files, and so on.