MacPorts Apache2 Stopped Launching on Boot

Question

Something that I've noticed recently on two different machines is that Apache2 installed via MacPorts seems to have stopped launching when I boot up. The honest truth is that I can't swear it did so before, but it's something I think I'd notice because installing the LaunchDaemon is part of my install process. In fact, if I try to reload the LaunchDaemon, it fails:

$ sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.apache2.plist
org.macports.apache2: Already loaded

Unless I start Apache manually (using sudo apachectl restart), grep'ing for either "apache2" or "httpd" in my process list only produces this:

$ sudo ps -ef | egrep "apache2|httpd"
    0    52     1   0   0:00.06 ??         0:00.08 /opt/local/bin/daemondo --label=apache2 --start-cmd /opt/local/etc/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.apache2/apache2.wrapper start ; --stop-cmd /opt/local/etc/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.apache2/apache2.wrapper stop ; --restart-cmd /opt/local/etc/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.apache2/apache2.wrapper restart ; --pid=none

1410639199 6960 6792 0 0:00.00 ttys001 0:00.00 egrep apache2|httpd

Looks like the daemon itself is in place, but no executable. As far as I know/can tell, the relevant executables (httpd and apachectl) are executable by everyone.

Has anyone else noticed this? Any ideas?

UPDATE

As requested below, I did execute launchctl list. The list is long and I'm not sure how to snip it, but suffice to say that no org.macports.* items are listed. That in itself is interesting because my MySQL daemon is loaded the same way. It works, but also doesn't appear in the list. Let me know if the entire output is really needed.

UPDATE

I assumed that I had executed launchctl list under sudo, but prompted by mipadi's comment below, I tried again ensuring that I did so and I assumed incorrectly. When executed under sudo, the MacPorts items appear:

51  -   org.macports.mysql5
52  -   org.macports.apache2

I'm not sure whether that will help, but it's a little more info nonetheless.

UPDATE

I've asked a different, but related, question at LaunchDaemons and Environment Variables. I'll update both questions as I learn more.

UPDATE

Today, based on mailing list input, I tried using a wildcard home directory. Academically, it's a little more inclusive than I'd like, but the practical reality is that I'm the only one using this computer; certainly the only one who'd have Apache config files laying around.

Include "/Users/*/Dropbox/Application Support/apache/conf.d.osx/*.conf"
Include "/Users/*/Library/Application Support/MacPorts/apache/conf.d/*.conf"

Unfortunately...

httpd: Syntax error on line 512 of /opt/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf: Wildcard patterns not allowed in Include /Users/*/Dropbox/Application Support/apache/conf.d.osx/*.conf

Answer 1

Since I now know why Apache has stopped loading on startup, I'm going to articulate that answer and mark this question as answered. The reason Apache has stopped launching on boot is that I'm trying to share an httpd.conf file across systems. The config file needs to Include files from directories that exist within my home directory. Since the home directory is different on each machine, I was trying to reference the ${HOME} environment variable.

This works fine when manually starting after the machine is booted, but fails on startup because the environment variable isn't yet set. As mentioned above, see this question for more information.

Answer 2

I found my answer to this problem here:

https://trac.macports.org/ticket/36101

"I apparently fixed this when changing my local dnsmasq config. In /etc/hosts I added my servername (gala) to the loopback entry:

127.0.0.1 localhost gala

and then I changed ServerName in /opt/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf to match:

ServerName gala

Apache now starts at boot for me."

Answer 3

Rob:

1. Had the same problem: "sudo launchctl load -w ..." started Apache2 while I was logged in, but did not work during startup (the "-w" should have taken care of that). Also, as you noticed, the daemon seems to be registered with launchctl. It will show up with "sudo launchctl list" and another "sudo launchctl load ..." will result in the error message.

2. I played with "sudo port load apache2" and "sudo port unload apache2", but could not get httpd running on reboot.

3. In the end, I got rid of the MacPorts startup item: "sudo port unload apache2", checked with "sudo launchctl list" that org.macports.apache2 is no longer registered for startup.

4. Afterwards, I followed the steps on http://diymacserver.com > Docs > Tiger > Starting Apache. I only had to adapt the path from /usr/local/... to /opt/local/...

Now the MacPorts Apache2 is starting fine with every reboot.

Good luck, Klaus

Answer 4

I found that my MacPorts apache2 was not starting on boot because of an “error” in my httpd.conf.

I was using

Listen 127.0.0.1:80
Listen 192.168.2.1:80
Listen 123.123.123.123:80 # Example IP, not the one I was really using

And in Console.app I was seeing

4/8/12 4:59:06.208 PM org.macports.apache2: (49)Can't assign requested address: make_sock: could not bind to address 192.168.2.1:80
4/8/12 4:59:06.208 PM org.macports.apache2: no listening sockets available, shutting down
4/8/12 4:59:06.208 PM org.macports.apache2: Unable to open logs

I tried adjusting permissions on all the log folders (despite the fact that logs were being written just fine when I manually started apache2) and that didn't help.

Even though the Apache Documentation for Listen clearly states

Multiple Listen directives may be used to specify a number of addresses and ports to listen to. The server will respond to requests from any of the listed addresses and ports.

I decided to try switching back to just using

Listen 80

And after doing so apache2 is starting on boot with no errors or warnings.

Answer 5

If you're using Subversion with Apache, you may find that Apache is not starting because the mod_dav_svn.so file has moved to /opt/local/libexec. You'll need to adjust your Apache startup files to account for the new location of this file.

Answer 6

In newer versions of MacPorts you can run sudo port load apache2 to instruct MacPorts to take care of the launchctl setup and automatically start the process. To stop the process run port unload.

After loading check /opt/local/apache2/logs/error_log for errors, including configuration issues.

Answer 7

In addition to my previous answer I have also found that sometimes Apache fails to start because something else with the system is not yet ready.

On one OS X Server machine I also use the DNS to create a “internal only” DNS name for the machine and that name is used in my Apache configuration. Sometimes when Apache tries to start the DNS server is not yet ready and Apache fails to load because the hostname isn’t valid.

I have also seen this on other non-Server systems without local DNS as well where something else required by Apache must not be ready yet.

One thing that has worked is to edit the apache2.wrapper located at /opt/local/etc/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.apache2/apache2.wrapper that MacPorts’ daemondo uses to start up Apache.

Edit the Start() function to add a sleep command to wait a bit before launching Apache.

Original (Lines 14-17 on my machine)

Start()
{
    [ -x /opt/local/apache2/bin/apachectl ] && /opt/local/apache2/bin/apachectl start > /dev/null
}

With wait time added

Start()
{
    [ -x /opt/local/apache2/bin/apachectl ] && sleep 10 && /opt/local/apache2/bin/apachectl start > /dev/null
}