[Techtalk] Mandrake/Linux newbie deep in confusion about apache/advx

[Dan Richter]

You may have two Apache installations. Many Linux distributions come with 
Apache already installed. I know this sounds silly, but did you verify that 
Apache was not installed before installing it? If you have two 
installations, you might want to uninstall one of them.

But beyond the question of where it came from, it's obvious that Apache is 
using an httpd.conf file other than the one you intended. Though it sounds 
like accepting defeat, I recommend just "going with the flow" and using the 
file Apache uses. This is because you're new to Linux, but on the other 
hand I wouldn't have recommended building Apache yourself, so maybe you're 
up to reconfiguring.

You can make both files the "same" file (i.e., one is a pointer to the 
other) using the magic of the symbolic link:
   mv /your/httpd.conf /your/httpd.conf.bak
   ln -s /etc/httpd/conf /your/httpd.conf
   diff /etc/httpd/conf /your/httpd.conf    [no output => same file]

You can also do this with directories:
   mv /home/httpd/html /home/httpd/html.bak
   ln -s /usr/local/apache/htdocs /home/httpd/html

Perhaps the reason slocate didn't come up with anything is that it depends 
on a database that is refreshed at certain intervals. The tool "find" is 
never out of sync with the filesystem, but it's not very appropriate for 
this use because it's intended for localized searches. Try this:
   find /home/httpd/html -name '".html"
(Don't forget the quotes around "*.html".) This searches your server root 
for HTML files. You could do this:
   find / -name "whatever"
but that would take a long time.

By the way, your complaint about reference materials is a common one. I 
certainly had trouble learning Linux, but now I find it easier to use. 
Linux isn't very intuitive because it's made to be fast when you're 
familiar with it. By contrast, DOS is made to have a quick learning curve, 
but to an experienced user DOS is clumbsy and weak compared to Linux.

========== Dan Richter ============== mailto:Dan at wimba.com ===========
    Many hacker groups, in anonymous interviews with Mi2g, have
    said that they prefer attacking Linux systems and very rarely
    target anything running Windows, simply because to do so is
    far too easy...
      - Jan Andresen, computer security expert at Mi2g
        (a computer security consulting firm)