httpd - Man Page

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 ] [ -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 standalone 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 ServerRoot 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 verbosity of the error messages to find problems during startup​.  

-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​.  

-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 console​.  

Files

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​.

/etc/httpd/conf/httpd​.conf

Main server configuration file​.  

/etc/httpd/conf/mime​.types

Default MIME type mappings​.  

/var/log/httpd/error_log

Error log file​.  

/var/log/httpd/access_log

Access log file​.  

/etc/httpd/logs/httpd​.pid

File containing the process ID of the running daemon​.  

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​.  

Referenced By

apachectl(8), certwatch(1), certwatch.cron(5), ctl_zoneinfo(8), htcacheclean.service(8), httpd.conf(5), httpd_selinux(8), httpd.service(8), httptest(1), imapd.conf(5), mod_gridsite(8), ocf_heartbeat_apache(7), pmdaapache(1), promstatsd(8).

2026-05-08 Apache HTTP Server