openSUSE 10.2, Fight 2

Tags: apache, linux, linuxawy, neo, opensuse
Written by: kamasheto

To whom it may concern; Linux is by far the best encounter with an operating system.

As some of you might have noticed or know about my taste, I tend to lean towards looks as much as I lean to the core (usability and functionality), especially stuff I have to use all the time. Now when I was using Windows (I am still using Windows, though not as often thanks God) as my primary and only operating system, I had it customized exactly the way I want it, a theme and a few add-ons, :tada:

When I was eager enough to port over to Linux, on day one I had most of my things settled. My screen resolution, the enormous amount of fonts I have, the shortcuts, the look and feel, everything - I had to make it look perfect if I was going to enjoy my ride with it. I have to admit now that my Linux is by far sexier than my former operating system, Windows. Linux even parses Verdana the right way!

I know most people would rather have an operating system that will do everything for you - an “Operating” system - and I actually used to be one of those people, than have an operating system that will make you type in commands all the time - I know. The bad thing about that though is that in Windows if something goes wrong, you have to live with it, tough luck for you - and when you ask for help, you get the same answer over and over again “sorry, can’t help you” (da law 7ad rad 3alek mn aslo).

I had one issue I had to resolve sooner or later - my localhost. Having two friends which are actually RHCE’s pays off, I’m telling you! Everytime I tried to run apache2ctl start, I was getting a syntax error, obviously something was wrong - it could not include a file (apparently it wasn’t even there). I was determined to install apache again, looking back at that decision I understand what a disgrace it was! So when I asked Ahmed Soliman how to install apache again, he told me in shock that that’s not how we fix things in Linux, re-installing things is a Windows myth - I’d say. I asked him fine, how do I go around this? He gave me a few directions which reminded me of when I was taking the Linux course, and I actually loved the command habit! - having to enter commands all the time and all to fix things. When I noticed he was kind of busy - and thought that he will not always be there for me =P - I took things in my hands and tried to resolve my issue on my own.

Google was my friend - it should definitely be yours too! It’s the best! I looked up the syntax error and someone had the same issue with it, and because it was an openSUSE-only bug, a SUSE user had offered his help. I had to hop into my YaST > System > System Services (Runlevel) and enable apache2. A quick refresh on my already triggered Firefox to see what http://localhost/ will now give out, I was blessed with a 403 error! In case you hate errors and you don’t have a clue what that is, it basically means that my apache is working, however something in apache is wrong! :yay:

Ahmed Soliman again! He (and Ahmed Abdallah are a blessing! - Ahmed Abdallah joined the festival later on, you’ll see) told me to show him my apache configuration file, to see what was in it. He told me to “cat /etc/apache2/default-server.conf | grep DocumentRoot” - to be honest, I felt dizzy looking at that. I run it and told him the output says

DocumentRoot “/home/kamasheto/progs/apache2/www/”
# Configure the DocumentRoot

Before he said anything, I knew what was wrong - I had messed with that file awhile ago and changed all that crap! So I jet to that file as root and edit the contents to say a directory that kind of exists! Changing everything to /var/lib/apache2/www, I restarted my apache “apache2ctl restart”, and gave it another refresh - a new error, 404! :wow: This is actually getting me somewhere! This meant a file does not exist, so I moved an index.php that I had on my Windows localhost, and I got an enormous fatal runtime error - trust me, I was overwhelmed! It was because it could not connect to the database. He told me to “rcmysql”, and shell happily answered me with

Starting service MySQL ….. done

:up: phpmyadmin was my next step. It was as easy as downloading it, extracting it, and placing it in my /www directory - easy enough, no? - no compiling or installation required. I installed WordPress 2.2 without a single error. I had to give my user enough permission to edit anything in the /www directory though. So I asked Ahmed Abdallah this time how to do that and he told me there are two ways, an easy quick way and the more efficient way - the easy choice being to chmod the folder to 777 using my root account (I later noticed that that was temporary, because new files did not take that permission for some reason and I could not manipulate them), and the more efficient way being to create a new group and give it write access to that folder, then add my user to it - which I did not remember how to do when I gave it a go, lol. Anyway, that’s not a terrible problem, I’m managing just fine the way things are.

Although it took me at least three times longer to install and get my localhost working on apache than it took me on Windows, I’m much much more satisfied now. At least now I know what piping is, and what the output of the command Ahmed told me to execute was. I learned something new today, that’s the way Linux does things - the hard more effective way. My adventure with pidgin, is a totally different story.

Although my music player is a command, and I run even my mp3 files using the terminal, I’m lovin’ it - every single bit of it =)