CentOS - Jan 2011 - if you install cgi programs from rpm, how to configure for actual use in /var/www/html ?

In Centos 5.5, I've had this same experience over and over.  I have no
trouble installing CGI programs the old fashioned way (untar into
/var/www/html and configure), but don't like un-rpm managed files
floating about.  So I can install, for example, phpMyAdmin, from EPEL.

That phpMyAdmin RPM drops files into a bunch of locations, the php
files are under /usr/share/phpMysql

and then there are also:

/etc/httpd/conf.d/phpMyAdmin.conf
/etc/phpMyAdmin
/etc/phpMyAdmin/config.inc.php

and this:

/var/lib/phpMyAdmin
/var/lib/phpMyAdmin/config
/var/lib/phpMyAdmin/save
/var/lib/phpMyAdmin/upload

In order to make this actually work on the web server, I copy the
directory /usr/share/phpMyAdmin into /var/www/html and then I edit the
/etc/httpd/conf.d/phpMyAdmin.conf.  Then it works.

Then a new version of the phpMyAdmin RPM is released on EPEL, it gets
installed, and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do to keep my thing
in /var/www/html working.

I had the exact same experience with the mediawiki RPM from EPEL.  It
installs its files into /var/www/

var/www/mediawiki116

and

/usr/share/mediawiki116

The web server required everything to b e under /var/www/html/, so I
copy files in there.  The mediawiki116 documentation does not mention
this problem, but I've googled long enough until I found this, which
agrees with me that it is necessary to copy the files over in order to
use the media wiki.

http://www.wikihow.com/Install-MediaWiki-on-Fedora

Unfortunately, now the upgrade path is obscured. When RPM updates its
files (scattered over the file system), what to do?

---
Paul E. Johnson
Professor, Political Science
1541 Lilac Lane, Room 504
University of Kansas

On Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 11:42 AM, Paul Johnson <pauljohn32 at gmail.com>
wrote:
> In Centos 5.5, I've had this same experience over and over. ?I have no
> trouble installing CGI programs the old fashioned way (untar into
> /var/www/html and configure), but don't like un-rpm managed files
> floating about. ?So I can install, for example, phpMyAdmin, from EPEL.
>
> That phpMyAdmin RPM drops files into a bunch of locations, the php
> files are under /usr/share/phpMysql
>
> and then there are also:
>
> /etc/httpd/conf.d/phpMyAdmin.conf
> /etc/phpMyAdmin
> /etc/phpMyAdmin/config.inc.php
>
> and this:
>
> /var/lib/phpMyAdmin
> /var/lib/phpMyAdmin/config
> /var/lib/phpMyAdmin/save
> /var/lib/phpMyAdmin/upload
>
> In order to make this actually work on the web server, I copy the
> directory /usr/share/phpMyAdmin into /var/www/html and then I edit the
> /etc/httpd/conf.d/phpMyAdmin.conf. ?Then it works.
>
> Then a new version of the phpMyAdmin RPM is released on EPEL, it gets
> installed, and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do to keep my thing
> in /var/www/html working.
>
> I had the exact same experience with the mediawiki RPM from EPEL. ?It
> installs its files into /var/www/
>
> var/www/mediawiki116
>
> and
>
> /usr/share/mediawiki116
>
> The web server required everything to b e under /var/www/html/, so I
> copy files in there. ?The mediawiki116 documentation does not mention
> this problem, but I've googled long enough until I found this, which
> agrees with me that it is necessary to copy the files over in order to
> use the media wiki.
>
> http://www.wikihow.com/Install-MediaWiki-on-Fedora
>
> Unfortunately, now the upgrade path is obscured. When RPM updates its
> files (scattered over the file system), what to do?
>
> ---
> Paul E. Johnson

You're right... what you are doing now is unmaintainable.  What you
should be doing instead is configuring apache separately for each
software you install.  If mediawiki installed itself in
/var/www/mediawiki, then you would set up an alias to that in the
apache config, something like "Alias /wiki /var/www/mediawiki".  When
you access the URL http://example.com/mediawiki, the files will be
served from the default install location.

You should also take a look at what's in /etc/httpd/conf.d to see how
to use the more modularized approach that is the default way apache is
installed with CentOS.  There might even already be some default conf
files from the ones you installed from rpm.  Use "rpm -ql
<packagename>" to see all the files installed by that package.  There
might be some clues in there about sample apache configs.

You might find docs about this somewhere in
/usr/share/doc/<packagename>, but I'm not aware of any documents that
actually explain this approach other than reading through the default
apache configs.  Maybe someone else can enlighten.

Paul Johnson wrote:
> In Centos 5.5, I've had this same experience over and over.  I have no
> trouble installing CGI programs the old fashioned way (untar into
> /var/www/html and configure), but don't like un-rpm managed files
> floating about.  So I can install, for example, phpMyAdmin, from EPEL.
>
> That phpMyAdmin RPM drops files into a bunch of locations, the php
> files are under /usr/share/phpMysql
<snip>
The typical php "method": scatter things every-bloody-where.

Two suggestions, instead of copying:
  1) modify the php.ini to have its path point everywhere, or
  2) instead of copying, make symbolic links, so that there's only one copy.

         mark

On 1/5/2011 10:42 AM, Paul Johnson wrote:
> In Centos 5.5, I've had this same experience over and over.  I have no
> trouble installing CGI programs the old fashioned way (untar into
> /var/www/html and configure), but don't like un-rpm managed files
> floating about.  So I can install, for example, phpMyAdmin, from EPEL.
>
> That phpMyAdmin RPM drops files into a bunch of locations, the php
> files are under /usr/share/phpMysql
>
> and then there are also:
>
> /etc/httpd/conf.d/phpMyAdmin.conf
> /etc/phpMyAdmin
> /etc/phpMyAdmin/config.inc.php
>
> and this:
>
> /var/lib/phpMyAdmin
> /var/lib/phpMyAdmin/config
> /var/lib/phpMyAdmin/save
> /var/lib/phpMyAdmin/upload
>
> In order to make this actually work on the web server, I copy the
> directory /usr/share/phpMyAdmin into /var/www/html and then I edit the
> /etc/httpd/conf.d/phpMyAdmin.conf.  Then it works.
What is keeping it from working with the supplied:
Alias /phpMyAdmin /usr/share/phpMyAdmin
(i.e. to the install location)?

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell at gmail.com

On 5 January 2011 16:42, Paul Johnson <pauljohn32 at gmail.com>
wrote:
> In Centos 5.5, I've had this same experience over and over. ?I have no
> trouble installing CGI programs the old fashioned way (untar into
> /var/www/html and configure), but don't like un-rpm managed files
> floating about. ?So I can install, for example, phpMyAdmin, from EPEL.
>
> That phpMyAdmin RPM drops files into a bunch of locations, the php
> files are under /usr/share/phpMysql
>
> and then there are also:
>
> /etc/httpd/conf.d/phpMyAdmin.conf
> /etc/phpMyAdmin
> /etc/phpMyAdmin/config.inc.php
>
> and this:
>
> /var/lib/phpMyAdmin
> /var/lib/phpMyAdmin/config
> /var/lib/phpMyAdmin/save
> /var/lib/phpMyAdmin/upload
>
> In order to make this actually work on the web server, I copy the
> directory /usr/share/phpMyAdmin into /var/www/html and then I edit the
> /etc/httpd/conf.d/phpMyAdmin.conf. ?Then it works.
I don't think that step is necessary. The contents of
/etc/httpd/conf.d/phpMyAdmin.conf (specifically the two Alias lines)
should ensure that the software works fine without moving it.

I don't have a Centos box that I can test on right now, but I've just
installed phpMyAdmin on this Fedora 14 box for the first time (using
yum) and it all just works. All I did was to restart the server.

If it's not working for you, then are you sure that your Apache is
configured to use the files in /etc/httpd/conf.d? If the config file
is being loaded successfully, then I can't see why it wouldn't work.

Dave...

-- 
Dave Cross :: dave at dave.org.uk
http://dave.org.uk/
@davorg