This guide lists the default installation layouts for Apache HTTPD on various operating systems and distributions.

While examples in the main Apache HTTP Server documentation assume that you are using the standard file layout distributed from apache.org, many third-party distributors change the layout to conform to local policies. This can make it difficult to follow the examples and to find various important files. Using the information below, you can find where things live on your local install, and compare it to the standard Apache paths.

Contents

  1. Apache 2.2 default layout (apache.org source package):
  2. Apache 2.0 default layout (apache.org source package):
  3. Apache 1.3 default layout (apache.org source package):
  4. Debian, Ubuntu (Apache 2):
  5. Debian, Ubuntu (Apache 1.3):
  6. Fedora Core, CentOS, RHEL:
  7. RedHat 9.0 and older:
  8. Mandriva (Apache 2.2):
  9. Mac OS X (Leopard, Apache 2.2):
  10. Mac OS X (Tiger and earlier, Apache 1.3):
  11. NetBSD Apache 2.0 and 1.3 from pkgsrc (layout is identical):
  12. FreeBSD 6.1 (Apache 2.2):
  13. FreeBSD 6.1 (Apache 2.0):
  14. FreeBSD (Apache 1.3):
  15. Win32 (2.2):
  16. Solaris 10 (Apache 2.0):
  17. Solaris 10 (Apache 1.3):
  18. Slackware 10.1, 10.2 and 11.0 (Apache 1.3):
  19. Slackware 12.0 (Apache 2.2):
  20. openSUSE and SLES (Apache 2.2):
  21. Gentoo (Apache 2.2):
  22. TODO:

Apache 2.2 default layout (apache.org source package):

ServerRoot              ::      /usr/local/apache2
DocumentRoot            ::      /usr/local/apache2/htdocs
Apache Config File      ::      /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf
Other Config Files      ::      /usr/local/apache2/conf/extra/
SSL Config File         ::      /usr/local/apache2/conf/extra/httpd-ssl.conf
ErrorLog                ::      /usr/local/apache2/logs/error_log
AccessLog               ::      /usr/local/apache2/logs/access_log
cgi-bin                 ::      /usr/local/apache2/cgi-bin (enabled by default, but the bundled scripts are 644)
binaries (apachectl)    ::      /usr/local/apache2/bin
start/stop              ::      /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl (start|restart|graceful|graceful-stop|stop|configtest)

Apache 2.0 default layout (apache.org source package):

ServerRoot              ::      /usr/local/apache2
DocumentRoot            ::      /usr/local/apache2/htdocs
Apache Config File      ::      /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf
SSL Config              ::      /usr/local/apache2/conf/ssl.conf
ErrorLog                ::      /usr/local/apache2/logs/error_log
AccessLog               ::      /usr/local/apache2/logs/access_log
cgi-bin                 ::      /usr/local/apache2/cgi-bin (enabled by default, but the bundled scripts are 644)
binaries (apachectl)    ::      /usr/local/apache2/bin
start/stop              ::      /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl (start|stop|graceful|configtest)

Apache 1.3 default layout (apache.org source package):

ServerRoot              ::      /usr/local/apache
DocumentRoot            ::      /usr/local/apache/htdocs
Apache Config File      ::      /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf
ErrorLog                ::      /usr/local/apache/logs/error_log
AccessLog               ::      /usr/local/apache/logs/access_log
cgi-bin                 ::      /usr/local/apache/cgi-bin (enabled by default, but the bundled scripts are 644)
binaries (apachectl)    ::      /usr/local/apache/bin
start/stop              ::      /usr/local/apache/bin/apachectl (start|stop|graceful|configtest)

Debian, Ubuntu (Apache 2):

ServerRoot              ::      /etc/apache2
DocumentRoot            ::      /var/www
Apache Config Files     ::      /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
                        ::      /etc/apache2/ports.conf
Default VHost Config    ::      /etc/apache2/sites-available/default, /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default
Module Locations        ::      /etc/apache2/mods-available, /etc/apache2/mods-enabled
ErrorLog                ::      /var/log/apache2/error.log
AccessLog               ::      /var/log/apache2/access.log
cgi-bin                 ::      /usr/lib/cgi-bin
binaries (apachectl)    ::      /usr/sbin
start/stop              ::      /etc/init.d/apache2 (start|stop|restart|reload|force-reload|start-htcacheclean|stop-htcacheclean)

Notes:

  1. The Debian/Ubuntu layout is fully documented in /usr/share/doc/apache2/README.Debian

  2. Debian/Ubuntu use symlinks to enable vhosts and modules. Configuration files are created in their respective sites-available and mods-available directories. To activate vhosts and modules, symlinks are created in the respective sites-enabled and mods-enabled directories to the config files in either sites-available and mods-available. Debian provides scripts to handle this process called 'a2ensite' and 'a2enmod' which enables vhosts and modules.

  3. The default DocumentRoot is specified in the default vhost config file, /etc/apache2/sites-available/default

Debian, Ubuntu (Apache 1.3):

ServerRoot              ::      /etc/apache
DocumentRoot            ::      /var/www
ErrorLog                ::      /var/log/apache/error.log
AccessLog               ::      /var/log/apache/access.log
cgi-bin                 ::      /usr/lib/cgi-bin
binaries (apachectl)    ::      /usr/sbin
start/stop              ::      /etc/init.d/apache (start|stop|graceful|configtest)

Fedora Core, CentOS, RHEL:

ServerRoot              ::      /etc/httpd
Primary Config Fle      ::      /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
Other Config Files      ::      /etc/httpd/conf.d
Module Locations        ::      /usr/lib/httpd/modules
DocumentRoot            ::      /var/www/html
ErrorLog                ::      /var/log/httpd/error_log
AccessLog               ::      /var/log/httpd/access_log
cgi-bin                 ::      /var/www/cgi-bin (empty and disabled by default)
binary                  ::      /usr/sbin/httpd
runtime directory       ::      /etc/httpd/run
start/stop              ::      /sbin/service httpd {start|stop|restart|condrestart|reload|status|fullstatus|graceful|help|configtest}

Notes:

  1. There is an extra config file in /etc/sysconfig/httpd which can be used to change to the worker mpm /usr/sbin/httpd.worker.

  2. Extra config files named *.conf are loaded from /etc/httpd/conf.d. This directory is used by packages like mod_python for drop-in configs

  3. If you're having issues with authorization and your permissions are correct make sure that you try testing with SELinux turned off. Run 'setenforce 0' and use 'chcon' to fix permissions. Run 'ls -alZ' to view the current permissions.' SELinux first appeared in Fedora Core 3, RHEL 4, and CentOS 4.

RedHat 9.0 and older:

ServerRoot              ::      /etc/httpd
Primary Config Fle      ::      /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
DocumentRoot            ::      /var/www/html
ErrorLog                ::      /var/log/httpd/error_log
AccessLog               ::      /var/log/httpd/access_log
cgi-bin                 ::      /var/www/cgi-bin (empty and disabled by default)
binary                  ::      /usr/sbin/httpd
start/stop              ::      /sbin/service httpd {start|stop|restart|condrestart|reload|status|fullstatus|graceful|help|configtest}

Mandriva (Apache 2.2):

ServerRoot              ::      /etc/httpd
Primary Config Fle      ::      /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
DocumentRoot            ::      /var/www/html
ErrorLog                ::      /var/log/httpd/error_log
AccessLog               ::      /var/log/httpd/access_log
cgi-bin                 ::      /var/www/cgi-bin
binary                  ::      /usr/sbin/httpd
start/stop              ::      /sbin/service httpd
{start|stop|restart|reload|graceful|condreload|closelogs|update|condrestart|status|extendedstatus|configtest|configtest_vhosts|semcleanrestart|debug|show_defines}

Mac OS X (Leopard, Apache 2.2):

ServerRoot              ::      /usr
Primary Config Fle      ::      /etc/apache2/httpd.conf
DocumentRoot            ::      /Library/WebServer/Documents
ErrorLog                ::      /var/log/apache2/error_log
AccessLog               ::      /var/log/apache2/access_log
cgi-bin                 ::      /Library/WebServer/CGI-Executables (empty by default)
binary                  ::      /usr/sbin/httpd
start/stop              ::      /usr/sbin/apachectl (start|stop|restart|fullstatus|status|graceful|graceful-stop|configtest|help)

Notes:

  1. apachectl graceful is equivalent to apachectl restart and doesn't keep running connections alive. Similarly, graceful-stop is not graceful.

  2. The /usr/sbin/envvars script is ineffective for setting environment variables. See http://lists.apple.com/archives/web-dev/2008/Apr/msg00059.html

Mac OS X (Tiger and earlier, Apache 1.3):

ServerRoot              ::      /usr
Primary Config Fle      ::      /etc/httpd/httpd.conf
DocumentRoot            ::      /Library/WebServer/Documents
ErrorLog                ::      /var/log/httpd/error_log
AccessLog               ::      /var/log/httpd/access_log
cgi-bin                 ::      /Library/WebServer/CGI-Executables (empty by default)
binary                  ::      /usr/sbin/httpd
start/stop              ::      apachectl (start|stop|restart|fullstatus|status|graceful|configtest|help)

NetBSD Apache 2.0 and 1.3 from pkgsrc (layout is identical):

ServerRoot              ::      /usr/pkg
Config File             ::      /usr/pkg/etc/httpd/httpd.conf
DocumentRoot            ::      /usr/pkg/share/httpd/htdocs
ErrorLog                ::      /var/log/httpd/error_log
AccessLog               ::      /var/log/httpd/access_log
cgi-bin                 ::      /usr/pkg/libexec/cgi-bin
binaries (apachectl)    ::      /usr/pkg/sbin
start/stop              ::      /etc/rc.d/apache [fast|force|one](start stop restart rcvar reload status poll)
/etc/rc.conf variables  ::      apache=YES, apache_start="start" (or "startssl")

Notes:

  1. The "apache" script must be copied from the installation default /usr/pkg/share/examples/rc.d to /etc/rc.d (for automatic rc.conf usage) or /usr/pkg/etc/rc.d (for advanced usage).

FreeBSD 6.1 (Apache 2.2):

ServerRoot              ::      /usr/local
Config File             ::      /usr/local/etc/apache22/httpd.conf
DocumentRoot            ::      /usr/local/www/apache22/data
ErrorLog                ::      /var/log/httpd-error.log
AccessLog               ::      /var/log/httpd-access.log
cgi-bin                 ::      /usr/local/www/apache22/cgi-bin
binaries (apachectl)    ::      /usr/local/sbin
start/stop              ::      /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache22.sh (start|restart|stop|reload|graceful|gracefulstop|configtest)
/etc/rc.conf variables  ::      apache22_enable="YES"

Notes:

  1. Other variables to insert in rc.conf are listed in the comments at the top of the start/stop script

  2. To start 2.2 on freebsd 6.1 the accf_http kernel module must be loaded. To do this once, run kldload accf_http . To do so at boot time, add accf_http_load=”YES” to /boot/loader.conf

  3. Apache 2.2.6 in the FreeBSD 6.2 release will start regardless of the accf_http kernel module being loaded, and by default doesn't use it. To reverse this, add apache22_http_accept_enable="YES" to /etc/rc.conf (which will cause the kernel module to be loaded and Apache to use it).

FreeBSD 6.1 (Apache 2.0):

ServerRoot              ::      /usr/local
Config File             ::      /usr/local/etc/apache2/httpd.conf
DocumentRoot            ::      /usr/local/www/data
ErrorLog                ::      /var/log/httpd-error.log
AccessLog               ::      /var/log/httpd-access.log
cgi-bin                 ::      /usr/local/www/cgi-bin
binaries (apachectl)    ::      /usr/local/sbin
start/stop              ::      /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache2.sh [fast|force|one](start|restart|stop|reload|configtest|rcvar)
/etc/rc.conf variables  ::      apache2_enable="YES"

Notes:

  1. Other variables to insert in rc.conf are listed in the comments at the top of the start/stop script

FreeBSD (Apache 1.3):

ServerRoot              ::      /usr/local
Config File             ::      /usr/local/etc/apache/httpd.conf
DocumentRoot            ::      /usr/local/www/data
ErrorLog                ::      /var/log/httpd-error.log
AccessLog               ::      /var/log/httpd-access.log
cgi-bin                 ::      /usr/local/www/cgi-bin
binaries (apachectl)    ::      /usr/local/sbin
start/stop              ::      /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache.sh
rc.conf variables       ::      apache_enable="YES"
    (other variables to insert in rc.conf are listed in the comments at the top of the start/stop script)

Notes:

  1. See: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/network-apache.html

Win32 (2.2):

ServerRoot              ::      "C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2"
Config File             ::      "C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/conf/httpd.conf"
DocumentRoot            ::      "C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/htdocs"
ErrorLog                ::      "C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/logs/error.log"
AccessLog               ::      "C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/logs/access.log"
cgi-bin                 ::      "C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/cgi-bin/"
binaries (apachectl)    ::      "C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/bin"

Notes;

  1. There are extra config files in "C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/conf/extra" that can be included for options such as vhosts

Solaris 10 (Apache 2.0):

ServerRoot              ::      /usr/apache2
Config File             ::      /etc/apache2/httpd.conf
DocumentRoot            ::      /var/apache2/htdocs
ErrorLog                ::      /var/apache2/logs/error_log
AccessLog               ::      /var/apache2/logs/access_log
cgi-bin                 ::      /var/apache2/cgi-bin
binaries                ::      /usr/apache2/bin

Notes:

  1. Config needs to be copied from example file to httpd.conf. Apache-1.3 is the default installation in /etc/init.d and /etc/rc3.d files.

Solaris 10 (Apache 1.3):

ServerRoot              ::      /usr/apache
Config File             ::      /etc/apache/httpd.conf
DocumentRoot            ::      /var/apache/htdocs
ErrorLog                ::      /var/apache/logs/error_log
AccessLog               ::      /var/apache/logs/access_log
cgi-bin                 ::      /var/apache/cgi-bin
binaries                ::      /usr/apache/bin
start/stop              ::      /etc/init.d/apache (start|startssl|sslstart|start-SSL|restart|stop)

Notes:

  1. Config needs to be copied from example file to httpd.conf.

  2. Apache-1.3 is the default installation in /etc/init.d and /etc/rc3.d files. Also Apache Tomcat is included in 1.3 installation.

Slackware 10.1, 10.2 and 11.0 (Apache 1.3):

ServerRoot              ::     /usr
DocumentRoot            ::     /var/www/htdocs
AccessLog               ::     /var/log/apache/access_log
ErrorLog                ::     /var/log/apache/error_log
binaries (apachectl)    ::     /usr/sbin
modules                 ::     /usr/libexec/apache
system startup script   ::     /etc/rc.d/rc.httpd (start|stop|restart|graceful)
Apache config file      ::     /etc/apache/httpd.conf
mod_ssl config file     ::     /etc/apache/mod_ssl.conf
php config file         ::     /etc/apache/mod_php.conf
cgi-bin                 ::     /var/www/cgi-bin
on-line docs ("manual") ::     /var/www/htdocs/manual
proxy cache             ::     /var/cache/proxy

Slackware 12.0 (Apache 2.2):

ServerRoot              ::     /usr
DocumentRoot            ::     /svr/httpd/htdocs
AccessLog               ::     /var/log/httpd/access_log
ErrorLog                ::     /var/log/httpd/error_log
binaries (apachectl)    ::     /usr/sbin
modules                 ::     /usr/lib/httpd
system startup script   ::     /etc/rc.d/rc.httpd (start|restart|graceful|graceful-stop|stop)
Apache config file      ::     /etc/httpd/httpd.conf
mod_ssl config file     ::     /etc/httpd/extra/httpd-ssl.conf
php config file         ::     /etc/httpd/mod_php.conf
cgi-bin                 ::     /svr/httpd/cgi-bin
on-line docs ("manual") ::     /svr/httpd/htdocs/manual

openSUSE and SLES (Apache 2.2):

ServerRoot              ::      /srv/www
DocumentRoot            ::      /srv/www/htdocs
Apache Config File      ::      /etc/apache2/httpd.conf
Other Config Files      ::      /etc/sysconfig/apache2
SSL Config File         ::      /etc/apache2/ssl-global.conf
ErrorLog                ::      /var/log/apache2/error_log
AccessLog               ::      /var/log/apache2/access_log
cgi-bin                 ::      /srv/www/cgi-bin 
binaries (apachectl)    ::      /usr/sbin
start/stop              ::      /etc/init.d/apache2 (start|restart|restart-graceful|reload|graceful|graceful-stop|stop|configtest)

Notes:

  1. Modules are enabled in /etc/sysconfig/apache2 which is read by the startup script. The a2enmod/a2dismod tool can be used to activate/deactivate modules.

  2. See /usr/share/doc/packages/apache2/README.SUSE for more information.

Gentoo (Apache 2.2):

ServerRoot              ::      /usr/lib/apache2
DocumentRoot            ::      /var/www/localhost/htdocs
Apache Config File      ::      /etc/apache2/httpd.conf
Other Config Files      ::      /etc/conf.d/apache2
Default VHost Config    ::      /etc/apache2/vhosts.d/00_default_vhost.conf
Module Configuration    ::      /etc/apache2/modules.d
Module Locations        ::      /usr/lib/apache2/modules
ErrorLog                ::      /var/log/apache2/error_log
AccessLog               ::      /var/log/apache2/access_log
cgi-bin                 ::      /var/www/localhost/cgi-bin
binaries (apache2ctl)   ::      /usr/sbin
start/stop              ::      /etc/init.d/apache2 (start|restart|graceful|stop|configtest)

Notes:

  1. To enable a module, "-D MODULENAME" must be added to APACHE_OPTS in /etc/conf.d/apache2

TODO:

Add:

DistrosDefaultLayout (last edited 2009-09-20 22:13:18 by localhost)