httpd/apachectl.xml

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<refentry>
  <refentryinfo>
    <title>apachectl</title>
    <productname>httpd</productname>
    <author><contrib>Apache man page</contrib><othername>Apache Software Foundation contributors</othername></author>
    <author><contrib>Fedora man page</contrib><surname>Dana</surname><firstname>Frank</firstname></author>
  </refentryinfo>

  <refmeta>
    <refentrytitle>apachectl</refentrytitle>
    <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
  </refmeta>

  <refnamediv>
    <refname>apachectl</refname>
    <refpurpose>Server control interface for httpd</refpurpose>
  </refnamediv>

  <refsynopsisdiv id='synopsis'>
    <cmdsynopsis>
      <command>apachectl</command>
      <arg choice='opt'><replaceable>command</replaceable> </arg>
      <sbr/>
    </cmdsynopsis>
  </refsynopsisdiv>

<!-- body begins here -->
  <refsect1 id='description'>
    <title>Description</title>

    <para><command>apachectl</command> is a front end to the Apache HyperText
    Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server. It is designed to help the
    administrator control the functioning of the Apache
    <command>httpd</command> daemon.</para>

    <para>The <command>apachectl</command> script takes one-word arguments like
    <option>start</option>,
    <option>restart</option>, and
    <option>stop</option>, and translates them
    into appropriate signals to <command>httpd</command>.</para>

    <para>The <command>apachectl</command> script returns a 0 exit value on
    success, and &gt;0 if an error occurs.</para>

    <refsect2 id="compatibility">
      <title>Compatibility</title>

      <para>The version of <command>apachectl</command> used on this
      system is a replacement script intended to be mostly (but not
      completely) compatible with version provided with
      <emphasis>Apache httpd</emphasis>.  This
      <command>apachectl</command> mostly acts as a wrapper around
      <command>systemctl</command> and manipulates the
      <command>systemd</command> service for <command>httpd</command>.
      The interface to the <emphasis>Apache</emphasis> version of
      <command>apachectl</command> is described at <ulink
      url="https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/programs/apachectl.html"/>.</para>

      <para>The following differences are present in the version of
      <command>apachectl</command> present on this system:

      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem><para>Option arguments passed when starting
        <command>httpd</command> are not allowed.  These should be
        configured in the systemd service directly (see <citerefentry><refentrytitle>httpd.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>).</para></listitem>

        <listitem><para>The <command>"fullstatus"</command> option is
        not available.</para></listitem>

        <listitem><para>The <command>"status"</command> option does
        not use or rely on the running server's
        <emphasis>server-status</emphasis> output.</para></listitem>
      </itemizedlist>

      </para>
    </refsect2>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1 id='options'>
    <title>Options</title>
    <variablelist remap='TP'>
      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>start</option></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Start the Apache <command>httpd</command> daemon. Gives an error if it
          is already running. This is equivalent to <command>systemctl start httpd.service</command>.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>stop</option></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Stops the Apache <command>httpd</command> daemon. This is equivalent to
          <command>systemctl stop httpd.service</command>.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>restart</option></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Restarts the Apache <command>httpd</command> daemon. If the daemon is
          not running, it is started. This is equivalent
          to <command>systemctl restart httpd.service</command>.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>status</option></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Displays a brief status report. This is equivalent to <command>systemctl status httpd.service.</command></para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>graceful</option></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Gracefully restarts the Apache <command>httpd</command> daemon. If the
          daemon is not running, it is started. This differs from a normal
          restart in that currently open connections are not aborted. A side
          effect is that old log files will not be closed immediately. This
          means that if used in a log rotation script, a substantial delay may
          be necessary to ensure that the old log files are closed before
          processing them. This is equivalent to
          <command>systemctl kill --signal=SIGUSR1 --kill-who=main httpd.service</command>.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>graceful-stop</option></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Gracefully stops the Apache <command>httpd</command> daemon.
          This differs from a normal stop in that currently open connections are not
          aborted. A side effect is that old log files will not be closed immediately.
          This is equivalent to
          <command>systemctl kill --signal=SIGWINCH --kill-who=main httpd.service</command>.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><option>configtest</option></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Run a configuration file syntax test. It parses the configuration
          files and either reports <literal>Syntax OK</literal>
          or detailed information about the particular syntax error. This is
          equivalent to <command>httpd -t</command>.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1 id='bugs'>
    <title>Bugs</title>
    <para>Please report bugs by filing an issue in Bugzilla via <ulink url='https://bugzilla.redhat.com/'/>.</para>
  </refsect1>

    <refsect1>
    <title>See also</title>

    <para>
    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>httpd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>httpd.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>httpd.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
    </para>
  </refsect1>

</refentry>