Let's first take a look at how Apache is configured (for Mac OS X 10.5.6 Leopard). In the Terminal:
> httpd -V
Server version: Apache/2.2.9 (Unix)
Server built: Sep 19 2008 10:58:54
Server's Module Magic Number: 20051115:15
Server loaded: APR 1.2.7, APR-Util 1.2.7
Compiled using: APR 1.2.7, APR-Util 1.2.7
Architecture: 32-bit
Server MPM: Prefork
threaded: no
forked: yes (variable process count)
Server compiled with....
-D APACHE_MPM_DIR="server/mpm/prefork"
-D APR_HAS_SENDFILE
-D APR_HAS_MMAP
-D APR_HAVE_IPV6 (IPv4-mapped addresses enabled)
-D APR_USE_FLOCK_SERIALIZE
-D APR_USE_PTHREAD_SERIALIZE
-D SINGLE_LISTEN_UNSERIALIZED_ACCEPT
-D APR_HAS_OTHER_CHILD
-D AP_HAVE_RELIABLE_PIPED_LOGS
-D DYNAMIC_MODULE_LIMIT=128
-D HTTPD_ROOT="/usr"
-D SUEXEC_BIN="/usr/bin/suexec"
-D DEFAULT_PIDLOG="/private/var/run/httpd.pid"
-D DEFAULT_SCOREBOARD="logs/apache_runtime_status"
-D DEFAULT_LOCKFILE="/private/var/run/accept.lock"
-D DEFAULT_ERRORLOG="logs/error_log"
-D AP_TYPES_CONFIG_FILE="/private/etc/apache2/mime.types"
-D SERVER_CONFIG_FILE="/private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf"
Notice where the configuration file is (see last line); this is the file we would use if we enabled the web server from the System Preferences : Sharing : Web Sharing. However, we much rather not change that configuration file; instead we shall simply supply a different one that we keep outside the /private/etc area.
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Before we go ahead with our personal configuration file, it is a good idea to compare our settings to those provided by Apple; use a "diff" tool of your choice (I like twdiff that comes with BareBones' TextWrangler). Once our settings are complete, we shall begin with a syntax check:
> apachectl -f /path/to/conf/httpd-debug.conf -t Syntax OK
To launch Apache with our own configuration, we run:
> sudo apachectl -f /path/to/conf/httpd-debug.conf -k start
To verify that it is running, we can issue this command (when o.k. we will get multiple lines for multiple httpd instances):
> ps -e | grep httpd | grep usr
Finally, to view the web site in Safari, we simply open the location: http://localhost/ .