RHEL4 - Any Way To Easily Install mod_perl-2 Without Upgrading To Apache 2.2?

Elbonian · 02-24-2007, 09:14 AM

I'm running RHEL4 on a commercially supplied server located in a data center far far away. Apache is httpd-2.0.52-28.ent, apr-0.9.6-3.5, apr-util-0.9.4-21, mod_perl-1.99_16-4, mod_ssl-2.0.52-28.ent, etc., all fairly typical for any RHEL server.

The boss bought a new package that requires mod_perl-2.x as a prerequisite, and mod_perl-2.x seems to require apr >= 1.0, etc., and those seem to require apache 2.2 or newer, so far as I can tell.

I can't upgrade apache because too many things will break (PLESK, python, Tomcat, etc. etc. etc.). The dependencies are just unending.

Before I tell the boss that he needs to buy a new server before we can run his new software, is there any known way to get some version of mod_perl-2.x to run under Apache 2.0.52?

Thanks in advance if you have an answer. In fact, thanks a LOT if you have an answer!

== Bill

Elbonian · 02-24-2007, 04:12 PM

If I install the mod_perl source package from Fedora, I get the dependency failure, thusly:

Code:

rpmbuild -bb mod_perl.spec
cat: /usr/include/httpd/.mmn: No such file or directory
error: Failed build dependencies:
        httpd-devel >= 2.2.0 is needed by mod_perl-2.0.2-6.1.i386
        apr-devel >= 1.2.0 is needed by mod_perl-2.0.2-6.1.i386

Thus, the Red Hat source clearly is made to be dependent upon Apache 2.2 and apr 1.2, neither of which are feasible on my RHEL-4 server.

However, the mod_perl developers seem to assert that Apache 2.0 is the minimum configuration. This is frustrating to me because if I grab the mod_perl 2.0.2 or 2.0.3 source code from the Apache.Org web site, I get this error:

Code:

perl Makefile.PL MP_APXS=/usr/local/psa/admin/bin/apxs 
Reading Makefile.PL args from @ARGV
   MP_APXS = /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/apxs
no conflicting prior mod_perl version found - good.
Configuring Apache/2.0.52 mod_perl/2.0.3 Perl/v5.8.5
[  error] '/usr/local/psa/admin/bin/apxs -q APR_BINDIR' failed:
[  error] apxs:Error: Invalid query string `APR_BINDIR'
[  error] '/usr/local/psa/admin/bin/apxs -q BINDIR' failed:
[  error] apxs:Error: Invalid query string `BINDIR'
[  error] '/usr/local/psa/admin/bin/apxs -q MPM_NAME' failed:
[  error] apxs:Error: Invalid query string `MPM_NAME'
[  error] Failed to obtain the MPM name.

So, it seems that the folks at Red Hat have somehow made it difficult for me to upgrade to mod_perl 2.0.x by somehow disabling their version of apxs from providing the answers that most equivalent versions of apxs will provide.

I've downloaded the source code from Red Hat (the httpd-2.0.52-28.ent.src.rpm file), but I don't have a clue as to where to hack in all that mess to fix this situation up. It certainly appears to me to be fixable, but I need a clue or three.

Again, can anybody out there point me in the correct direction? Thanks!