HTTPD(8)

💅 HTTPD(8) — the httpd page, aka Apache Hypertext Transfer Protocol Server 💅

okay so bestie, you've found the manual for httpd, the whole entire Apache HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server program. she's the main character of your web stack, and this page is her group chat bio. let's get into it 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

httpd — Apache Hypertext Transfer Protocol Server. that's her. that's the name. iconic, no notes 👑

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

here's the whole vibe in one code block, copy it exactly, don't touch the formatting pls:

httpd [ -d serverroot ] [ -f config ] [ -C directive ] [ -c directive ]
[ -D parameter ] [ -e level ] [ -E file ] [ -k
start|restart|graceful|stop|graceful-stop ] [ -h ] [ -l ] [ -L ] [ -S ]
[ -t ] [ -v ] [ -V ] [ -X ] [ -M ] [ -T ]

and if you're on Windows systems, there are extra arguments available:

httpd [ -k install|config|uninstall ] [ -n name ] [ -w ]

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🌸 SUMMARY 🌸

so httpd is the Apache HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server program. she's designed to be run as a standalone daemon process — very independent, very "i don't need anyone" energy. when used like this, she will create a pool of child processes or threads to handle requests. a whole little crew. a squad, if you will 💖

but here's the thing, bestie — in general, httpd should not be invoked directly. like, don't just walk up and start her yourself. instead she 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. iykyk ✨

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

the full menu, nothing skipped, every single flag accounted for 💅

• -d serverroot — sets the initial value for the ServerRoot directive to serverroot. this can be overridden by the ServerRoot directive in the configuration file. the default is /usr/local/apache2.
• -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. yes, order matters, they're literally twins with opposite timing 😭
• -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 verbosity of the error messages to find problems during startup. detective mode, activated 🔍
• -E file — send error messages during server startup to file.
• -h — output a short summary of available command line options.
• -l — output a list of modules compiled into the server. this will not list dynamically loaded modules included using the LoadModule directive.
• -L — output a list of directives provided by static modules, together with expected arguments and places where the directive is valid. directives provided by shared modules are not listed.
• -M — dump a list of loaded Static and Shared Modules.
• -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. basically a vibe check for your config ✨
• -v — print the version of httpd, and then exit.
• -V — print the version and build parameters of httpd, and then exit. the extra lore edition 💖
• -X — run httpd in debug mode. only one worker will be started and the server will not detach from the console.

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🧚 FILES 🧚

heads up bestie — the default paths listed below may be changed at compile time or with various command-line and configuration directives. consult your local installation for the actual locations. don't come for me if your paths are different, i'm just the messenger 🙈

• /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf — main server configuration file.
• /usr/local/apache2/conf/mime.types — default MIME type mappings.
• /usr/local/apache2/logs/error_log — error log file.
• /usr/local/apache2/logs/access_log — access log file.
• /usr/local/apache2/logs/httpd.pid — file containing the process ID of the running daemon.

💀 the Windows-only era 💀

the following arguments are available only on the Windows platform (and yes they're listed under FILES in here, that's just how the page is, don't @ me):

• -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. so thoughtful 🥺

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ngl, if you take one thing from this page: don't invoke httpd directly, use apachectl (Unix) or the service/console route (Windows). she's a daemon, she's booked and busy, she has a whole pool of children to manage 😭

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and that's the whole page, bestie — this was Apache HTTP Server, dated 2026-05-08, page HTTPD(8). you ate that. periodt 💅🎀💖