A Modern DA

B

bclancey

Verified User
Joined
May 19, 2004
Messages
35
Are there any plans to bundle DirectAdmin with up to date versions of Apache and PHP?

Apache 2.x and PHP 5.x have been out for a few years and these are not part of the current and updated DirectAdmin.

Because I licensed my copy a year or so back, I thought maybe it was just timing. But, the current offering is still stuck in the past.

I appreciate some legacy scripts may not work correctly under PHP 5.x or Apache 2.x -- but there should be an easy and well-defined option for those of us who want to stay with the latest, stable versions of these key software packages.
 
If you have shell access you can use the build script that comes with DA to install apache 2, just go to /usr/local/directadmin/customapache and type ./build and it will list out all the options you can do. If you want php 5, just go to php.net and download the php 5 tarball into the customapache directory, edit the build script and change the php version at the top to the version you just downloaded and do a ./build php_ap2 to install it.
 
I've been running Apache 2.2.4 and PHP 5.2.1 for months now. It definitely works just fine.
 
Thank you for your comments. Tried it. Four hours spent in the wee hours of the night and incomplete success. I look forward to another sleepless night.

While this kind of hacking, tweaking, pruning, editing, recompiling, and reconstructing configuration files is a delight for some . . . others are looking at commercial products such as DirectAdmin to provide a modern environment within which to run their businesses. And, a simpler upgrade path.

DA is working on that, offering a beta upgrade script, complete with bugs for which solutions are mentioned in the discussion thread.

Now, PHP 5.* was first released in July of 2004 and this is only two and a half years later. I can therefore see why thinking that DA ought to have already moved up to PHP 5 as the default makes me seem like an adrenalin junkie. But, I am a notorious early adopter!

But, Apache 2.* came out of beta in 2002. Five years later, DA and, to be fair, numerous other major *nix based projects are still thinking about trying the new kid on the block.

It is probably only me . . . . and it almost always is only me . . . . but I think that the time for DA to have migrated has already come and gone. It is never too late and DA should be offering out of the box support for these new versions.
 
hey,

actually it is not very hard to switch to apache 2.x or 2.2.x for that matter.

I assume you use this already, but the build script has a convert function which should help you out.

cd /usr/local/directadmin/customapache
./build

will output all of the options.

once you've done that, you can also change to apache 2.2.4 by adjusting the apache2 version variable in "build" and then manually downloading the latest src from apache.org into the customapache directory.

php5 is supported too, you just edit the build script and change the PHP version, then downloading the src manually just as you did for apache.

everything seriously does work fine, you should not have issues, and this can all be done within 30 minutes, with most of the time just waiting for the server to complete the build, etc...

at my company we have automated all of these processes upon server setup.
 
I had already followed all advice very carefully and phpinfo() reports that my server is running:

Apache/2.2.4 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.4 OpenSSL/0.9.7a DAV/2 PHP/5.2.1

Unfortunately, the entire install is not working as it should. I have not mentioned those struggles because they are not germaine to this thread.

I have never said nor indicated it is impossible to install the latest versions of Apache and PHP. I am saying that it should not be necessary to go through these hoops and that the current version of DA should install current up to date versions of Apache and PHP by default. This is not the case with DA and both new and old users are sent scrambling through the forums looking for clues as to how to make this happen.

I licensed DA in May of 2004. It should have been Apache 2.*, but it was not. PHP 5 was not available when I licensed DA, but a fully supported upgrade should have been available by at least May of 2005. This is March of 2007 and . . . .
 
Everything works 100% okay for me, there are no "issues" with it. Users DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT, have to go through the forums scrambling for the information. It's called opening the build file in a text editor and a little past *nix experience.
 
Hello,

There is a "new" build script that will be going into beta testing.. well.. now:
http://files.directadmin.com/services/customapache/beta/

It was re-written by smtalk with options for pretty much everything. I have not yet tried it myself, but uses an "options.conf" (at my request) so that the build script rememebers what you used last thus ./build all works for everyone all the time. It includes suPhp in any combination you could want. It's by no means the final version yet until testing is done.. so changes may be coming (or may not if it's good).

John
 
The latest version of php4, php-4.4.6 was just release last week. Hardly an old version. Apache 1.3.37 was release last July. Again not that old.

Other than the actual compile time it takes less than 5 minutes to upgrade to php5.

I have never switched to apache 2 so I cannot speak to that upgrade time.
 
Is Apache2 still in beta?

I've noticed that the ./build script lists out the following:-

...
Apache 2 options (beta):
./build update_data_ap2
./build convert
./build apache_2
./build php_ap2
./build mod_frontpage_ap2
./build mod_perl_ap2
...

Does this mean that apache 2 support for DirectAdmin is still in beta? Understand that many forumers have started to use apache2 + php5, but why didn't DirectAdmin shift beta to production?

Cheers.
 
jlasman, yes, you're right :) It's stable with default options, but it needs some testing with PHP4/PHP5(both) installed, suphp etc. (all the new features) If you just want PHP4 or PHP5 as CLI and Apache 2.2 - there should be no problems at all.
 
I am glad to see the apache 2.x branch, php 5, and suphp starting to come into the stable DA world. I think this is a step closer to what the OP is talking about. But to really make it 'a modern DA' I think the customapache build is something that should happen on installation of DA with the questions for versions to install presented at install time with defaults. This would at the very least show that DA can install and does work with (any combination?) apache 1.x, 2.x, php 4.x, 5.x (6.x?), mysql 4.x, 5.x, and suphp.
 
I would also like to see a few things in the custom build script. First, can the name be changed from customapache to just custombuild or something more general? Currently, it works with more than just apache, so the name is misleading. Second, it would be great if there were a way that the build script can be executed through DirectAdmin to update itself. :) Thanks for your time.
 
honestly, we've just created our own script internally based on the customapache script, but modified to our needs. easy enough with some bash experience. ;) but you can also write it in perl or any language you wish
 
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