of desktop-centric Linux such as Caldera, it\'s rare that you won\'t have the

Apache server installed. During your Linux installation, if you see an option

for \"Web services\" make sure to select it so that Apache will be installed.

If you\'re new to the

Unix/Linux/BSD world, I should warn you about something. There are two types

of installation packages - source and binary. If you\'re new to the

Unix world, try to download a binary format. A

binary is the fully compiled version of the application that\'s ready to be

installed on your system.

A source package is just

that, it\'s the source code to the application. This means you have to compile

it into an executable program all by yourself. One often messes up while

compiling an application. If you\'re fortunate, you\'ll find your error

immediately. If you\'re unlucky, it could be hours, days or weeks before you

find out, and then you have to spend time re-compiling it again to fix your

mistakes. Do yourself a favor when first learning Apache - find the binary

package for your OS. You can learn the finer points of compilation later.

Installing, and Running Apache

Those of you

running the RedHat Linux distribution may want to take advantage of

RedHat\'s RPM (\"RedHat Package Manager\") system.

Almost identical to a binary, an RPM is further customized to play nicely with

other RPMs and provide a consistent interface to

installing, updating, and removing binaries. They often entail a loss of

flexibility and clarity -- for instance, it\'s not readily apparent where the

contents of some packages will end up. That said, for Linux newcomers or when

installing a small standard component, RPMs are

simple and reliable.

Bear in mind

that an Apache RPM may already be installed on your system depending on how

Linux was originally installed on your computer. To find out, at the shell

prompt, type:

rpm

-qa | grep apache

If you see

something like apache-1.3.9xxx, an Apache RPM has already been installed and

you can skip on to

\"Starting Apache\".

If you don\'t

have an Apache RPM, you must obtain one. RedHat 6.x

Onwards ships with apache-1.x.x-x.i386.rpm in the RedHat/RPMS directory

on the installation CD. Or, point your Web browser at