HTTPD(8) httpd HTTPD(8)
NAME
httpd - Apache Hypertext Transfer Protocol Server
SYNOPSIS
httpd [ -d serverroot ] [ -f config ] [ -C directive ] [ -c directive ] [ -D parameter ] [ -e level ] [ -E
file ] [ -k start|restart|graceful|stop|graceful-stop ] [ -R directory ] [ -h ] [ -l ] [ -L ] [ -S ] [ -t ] [
-v ] [ -V ] [ -X ] [ -M ] [ -T ]
On Windows systems, the following additional arguments are available:
httpd [ -k install|config|uninstall ] [ -n name ] [ -w ]
SUMMARY
httpd is the Apache HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server program. It is designed to be run as a stand‐
alone daemon process. When used like this it will create a pool of child processes or threads to handle
requests.
In general, httpd should not be invoked directly, but rather should be invoked via apachectl on Unix-based
systems or as a service on Windows NT, 2000 and XP and as a console application on Windows 9x and ME.
OPTIONS
-d serverroot
Set the initial value for the ServerRoot directive to serverroot. This can be overridden by the Server‐
Root directive in the configuration file. The default is /etc/httpd.
-f config
Uses the directives in the file config on startup. If config does not begin with a /, then it is taken
to be a path relative to the ServerRoot. The default is conf/httpd.conf.
-k start|restart|graceful|stop|graceful-stop
Signals httpd to start, restart, or stop. See Stopping Apache httpd for more information.
-C directive
Process the configuration directive before reading config files.
-c directive
Process the configuration directive after reading config files.
-D parameter
Sets a configuration parameter which can be used with <IfDefine> sections in the configuration files to
conditionally skip or process commands at server startup and restart. Also can be used to set certain
less-common startup parameters including -DNO_DETACH (prevent the parent from forking) and -DFOREGROUND
(prevent the parent from calling setsid() et al).
-e level
Sets the LogLevel to level during server startup. This is useful for temporarily increasing the ver‐
bosity of the error messages to find problems during startup.
-S Show the settings as parsed from the config file (currently only shows the virtualhost settings).
-T (Available in 2.3.8 and later)
Skip document root check at startup/restart.
-t Run syntax tests for configuration files only. The program immediately exits after these syntax parsing
tests with either a return code of 0 (Syntax OK) or return code not equal to 0 (Syntax Error). If -D
DUMP_VHOSTS is also set, details of the virtual host configuration will be printed. If -D DUMP_MODULES
is set, all loaded modules will be printed.
-v Print the version of httpd, and then exit.
-V Print the version and build parameters of httpd, and then exit.
-X Run httpd in debug mode. Only one worker will be started and the server will not detach from the con‐
sole.
The following arguments are available only on the Windows platform:
-k install|config|uninstall
Install Apache httpd as a Windows NT service; change startup options for the Apache httpd service; and
uninstall the Apache httpd service.
-n name
The name of the Apache httpd service to signal.
-w Keep the console window open on error so that the error message can be read.
Apache HTTP Server 2012-02-10 HTTPD(8)
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