Hello Internet expert! I have just tried to install and run Apache. Compilation was very smoothe. Trouble is that when I try to start it, it "Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name"

it then gives another complaint and quits.

I have had a look on the Internet for answers, but the only thing that gives me a possible clue are sites offering domain name registration services? I don't want to Pay to register my name though, I just want to experiment with the ideas of being an Internet server... what can I do from here and can I make my own www address using TCP/IP, for example, without having to use name registration provider? I don't want to pay to play!

Did you write your FQDN  (the servername in your server config)
in the /etc/hosts?
til

Hi vapourmile!
Have you installed the apache zenwalk packages? How did you start the server?
Try setting in /etc/apache/httpd.conf "ServerName 127.0.0.1".
Also try to see if the really doesn't start with "ps -e | grep httpd".
It would be better if you could post all the messages apache gives to you...

Filippo

Ok, good questions... sorry for not getting back sooner. I wanted to give the full report before now but I also don't know how to cut and paste from a console window! (tips?)

I haven't set any server names in any files... I wasn't asked to until you mentioned it!

I tried to start the server the way it suggests in the Apache installation instructions with:

apachectl -k start

It says (copied by hand):

httpd: Could not reliably determine the servers fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.0.1 for ServerName
(13)Permission denied: make_sock: could not bind to address 0.0.0.0:80
no listening sockets available, shutting down
Unable to open logs

Don't I use this PCs IP address?

Sorry for being so confused! Your help Is greatly appreciated!

Vapourmile, have you tried to install the apache2 package provided with zenwalk? Now that the repository is coming back to life again, try with a "netpkg apache2".
To start the apache2 server, do a "chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.httpd; /etc/rc.d/rc.httpd start".
The apache DocumentRoot is defaulted to /var/www/htdocs.



If you have zenwalk 2.2, a right click on the terminal window should bring you a menu with options like copy and paste.

Cheers!

Filippo

Well, I have now...

Before I was using Apache 2.2.0 from Apache's own d/l site. It installed without a hitch though.

So, yes, having read the replies to my question, I did use netpkg to download Apache and I took PHP and mySQL while I was there. I also took the latest XFCE, a newer Kernal, and one or two other things: Tea, Lame, Sylpheed and more.

Then my Installation started working funny and I went for a reboot so everything could settle and now Zenwalk doesn't get past the first message "Now Loading Linux" (or something very near to that) it just prints out a list of dots after the message, they stop, and nothing else happens. I think I've broken it. Ooops.

Maybe the problem is related to the fact that you've also upgraded the kernel...

Always, after upgrading the kernel, you have to modify your /etc/lilo.conf, adding the information relative to the new kernel installed (this is not necessary if you upgraded the kernel through netpkg and installing the new kernel over the old one), and then run "lilo -v" as the root user: this is always necessary, or else you end up with a non-booting system...

Filippo

Ok, like the new look boards! Taking a few steps back, I have done something I have tried before... and it doesn't work. I only have Zenwalk on half my HD in a primary partition, so I made the other half into a new primary partition and made a fresh install of Zenwalk (both 2.0.1) on the other half.

What happens is that my new installation works very sweetly and the old one will load, but not without lost of complaints occuring during boot... it isn't smooth at all.

Lilo works beutifully with a Wondows/Linux configuration but how do I get it to work with a Linux/Linux configuration?

Whlst I'm here, I suppose if I want to complete plan A: To copy all the post-installation changes of my broken installation to my new installation and thus get a new installation up to speed with where my old one was before I broke it, then I'll somehow have to mount the old broken installation partition into my new one? How?

You can try to fix the MBR with the aid of zenwalk installation cd: boot the system with this. When you arrive to the root prompt, prepare a mountpoint for your partitions, ie. part1 and part2 with



Then, mount the 2 partitions with



the [first partion device] should be set accordingly to where you've installed zenwalk... for example, if the partition is the first partition of the IDE disk which is set up as the primary master, [first partition device] == hda1.
Then you can copy all the needed files between /mount/part1 and /mount/part2.
You can also edit your config files and, if you forgot to run lilo after a kernel upgrade you can do it now: assuming that you want to install lilo with the lilo.conf file provided in /mount/part1, first of all, you have to chroot to this partition and then you can install lilo in the MBR:



Cheers!

Filippo

Well, masses of thanks NeverBorn, that information has been a great help: You presented so it was very clear too!

I have had some experimentation and with what you told me I have been able to mount the other partition and copy across most of the important files. Nice one!

I have shied awat from chroot though. I'll leave it until the morning.

This leaves me with only one important thing not copied, because I don't know where it is: I had been using and organising bookmarks in Firefox to full effect, pointing to all kinds of seb sites for servers and programming. I want to copy them too. Presumably there's a file with them all in?

About the firefox & thunderbird personal files, you have to look at, respectively, ~/.mozilla/ and ~/.thunderbird directories.

So a

should do the trick... maybe it's better to create an archive of these directories:



Cheers!

Filippo

Ok, double thanks, I am much further forward now.

I migrated the firefox bookmarks with the Export to html feature in Manage bookmarks. Although I had wanted to do it all by hand using my own knowledge rather than 'cheating'. The trouble is I did find the files in .mozilla but when I vim'ed them all one by one, I found no trace of bookamark labels. So I used a method I trusted more than my own fingers-crossed work. Does anybody know in which file(s) firefox keeps it's bookmarks normally? Because the Export function creates a new html file that isn't there before.

What would finish this session off very well is to get my orgional installation working again. I have found that the Zenwalk massive is right: The kernal has changed... at least this is what I think... every error it throws in boot says the same thing "I can't find the file in etc/2.6.14.2 becasuse I can't find the directory. In fact, in the directory, since my kernal upgrade, is now called 2.6.15.4... hey presto!

So how do I fix it? Again I am thinking of cheating... by just renaming the directory... but you mentioned a proper way? I tried to run lilo and it just kicked up a complaint... but this might have something to do with the fact me new working Zenwalk partition was formerly a WIndows XP partition at the time my broken partition went down (as this is indicated in lilo.conf)

Once again thanks for you help so far! Seriously, you have been brilliant!

Ok, I'm not sure what the forum guidelines are here for double posts.... but anyway...

Thanks, owing to your help (collectively) particularly to NeverBorn (interesting name!) I have got closer to solving my installation problems, and I know more about Linux admin.

I have made an improvement in my dual-Linux arrangement, but still don't have the final answer: I can make the non-working Linux partition into a working partition by booting into it, running lilo (after all the complaint messages), and booting into it again (now working). The trouble is that this breaks the formerly working Linux, so I can work with one or the other, but not both! The problem comes down, it seems, to the different Linux kernels I'm running with each partition: I have to Lilo the one I want working to the cost of breaking the other.

The Linux kernel is not named in lilo.conf but I have a hunch it may be held in one of the bootstrap files. This means I can only run the Linux version that shares it's kernal with the one listed before it brings the system up... that's my guess.

Assuming I'm right can I edit the kernal references mentioned so I can start with two? But if so, how?

Again, many, many thanks... the help has meant a lot... I cn almost work this things now!

You can solve this problem by adding to one of the 2 /etc/lilo.conf (there is 1 for each partition ) a reference to the other partition. Supposing that you have in /dev/hdaX your first partition and /dev/hdaY your second partition (substitute X and Y with the right numbers... also, maybe your other partition is in /dev/hdb and not /dev/hda... you know ), add to the /etc/lilo.conf that comes with the partition referenced by /dev/hdaX the following lines:



Substitute accordingly [name of the kernel image] with the real one... for example, if your using zenwalk and you're using the standard kernel, it should be vmlinuz , or vmlinuz-[kernel version] (right now the latest one should be vmlinuz-2.6.15.4).
If you want more information on the options that you want to specify to lilo.conf, do a "man lilo.conf".
After the modify, reinstall lilo on the MBR with "lilo -v".

Cheers!

Filippo

OK, I tried that and there's a problem... lilo takes a look at each /boot/vmlinuz-[version] in lilo.conf and falls over on the second one... the trouble being that it's looking at the current root partition and finding the kernal here (2.6.15.4) both times so it works for my current partition which uses that kernal and breaks for the one it can't see that uses kernel 2.6.14.2 because it doesn't match the current root.

Long before I tried to intall apache I ran into this problem before and never got an answer: How to set up my boot-loader so that I have two different healthy Linux installations on different partitions?