Sriram, > Suggestions / concerns as always are most welcome.
Apache2 allows the use of include files for httpd.conf. I've found these to be the absolute best way to manage specific module support -- you break down HTTPD.conf into 12+ separate files, and then you can have, for example, an "upgrade to PHP5" module which only replaces modules.conf or suppliments it with a new file. Ideally, we'd add to Apache's SMF a program which rebuilds the .conf modules from some kind of source data. This would be the easiest thing in the world to make work with the packaging system, even if it requires a little writing code by us. SuSE Linux does this extensively and is one of the few things I really like about that distro. PHP will always give us indigestion due to the infrastructure of the language, which does not permit running two different versions with the same Apache server. So "installing" 5 means de-installing 4. And the much-vaunted PHP backwards-compatibility is largely illusory. FYI, php.ini introduces very similar problems without the ability to do includes. -- Josh Berkus PostgreSQL Lead Sun Microsystems San Francisco 01-415-752-2500
