Running make install completes the installation process by installing all the Perl files required for mod_perl to run. It also installs the mod_perl documentation (manpages). Typically, you need to be root to have permission to do this, but another user account can be used if the appropriate options are set on the perl Makefile.PL command line (see Chapter 3). To become root, use the su command.

panic% su
panic# make install

If you have the proper permissions, you can also chain all three make commands into a single command line:

panic# make && make test && make install

The single-line version simplifies the installation, since there is no need to wait for each command to complete before starting the next one. Of course, if you need to become root in order to run make install, you'll either need to run make install as a separate command or become root before running the single-line version.

If you choose the all-in-one approach and any of the make commands fail, execution will stop at that point. For example, if make alone fails, then make test and make install will not be attempted. Similarly, if make test fails, then make install will not be attempted.

Finally, change to the Apache source distribution directory and run make install to create the Apache directory tree and install Apache's header files (*.h), default configuration files (*.conf), the httpd executable, and a few other programs:

panic# cd ../apache_1.3.xx
panic# make install

Note that, as with a plain Apache installation, any configuration files left from a previous installation will not be overwritten by this process. Although backing up is never unwise, it's not actually necessary to back up the previously working configuration files before the installation.

At the end of the make install process, the installation program will list the path to the apachectl utility, which you can use to start and stop the server, and the path to the installed configuration files. It is important to write down these pathnames, as they will be needed frequently when maintaining and configuring Apache. On our machines, these two important paths are:

/usr/local/apache/bin/apachectl
/usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf

The mod_perl Apache server is now built and installed. All that needs to be done before it can be run is to edit the configuration file httpd.conf and write a test script.