Recommendation: TextWrangler for Mac OS X

PHP tutorial on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCUV3iv9xOs

Additional information on log files: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/logs.html

There are two important kinds of logs, the error log and the access log.

The access log contains an entry for each request sent to the server:
192.168.1.130 - frank [08/Oct/2013:11:25:13 -0400] "GET /~nancyg/Examples/testvariable1.php HTTP/1.1" 200 103

The format of entries is configurable. The above uses the "common" configuration. Explanation:

192.168.1.130: the IP address of the client that made the request to the server  
-            : some identity information about the client, normally not checked 
frank        : the userid as determined by http authentication.  
               If the document is not password-protected, this will be "-".  
[08/Oct/2013:11:25:13 -0400]
             : date and time.  -0400 is time zone.  
"GET /~nancyg/Examples/testvariable1.php HTTP/1.1"
             : request line from the client, given in double quotes
             : method, resource requested, protocol version  
200          : Status code.  Successful responses start with 2; redirections start with 3; errors caused by the client start with 4; errors caused by the server start with 5.  
-            : The size of the object being sent to the client (103 bytes).  If "-", nothing was sent. 

The error log contains an entry for each error:
[Tue Oct 08 11:25:13 2013] [error] [client ::1] PHP Notice: Undefined variable: var in /Users/nancyg/Sites/Examples/testvariable1.php on line 6

The error log is relatively free-form and descriptive. Note, it has a date, a message type (error), some client identifying information, and the PHP error message.

On Mac OS X:

• /var/log/apache2/access_log
• /var/log/apache2/error_log

On Ubuntu

• /var/www/apache2/access.log
• /var/www/apache2/error.log

On Windows

• $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']/../log/access.log
• $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']/../log/error.log

These errors can be shown on the Web page if the PHP option display_errors is set to On in the php.ini file. The php.ini file can be in various places:

On Mac OS X: /etc/php.ini
On Ubuntu: /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini
On Windows: In the php directory. Depends on where you installed php.

Exercise: Access the Web server on a neighbor's computer and look at the resulting entries in their error and access logs. You should try it with a page that is there and one that is not.

http://osxdaily.com/2011/02/21/change-file-permissions-mac/

It's similar but not identical on Ubuntu: right-click (or command-click, if using Virtual Box on a Mac) on the file or folder and select "Properties". Now, set folder and file permissions from the various drop-down boxes.

More on Apache configuration files: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/configuring.html

On a Unix system, all configuration files are in /etc For Apache 2.2, go to /etc/apache2

Getting to the files is simple on Ubuntu, either using the command line or using the Finder, and easy with command line on a Mac. However, you have to play a trick to use the Finder for accessing these files. Here's how:

• Open the Finder.
• Use the Go menu: Go>Go to folder (shift-ctl-G), then type the path to the directory. The finder will then display the directory.
• You can now right-click on a file to open it with the program of your choice.

Configuration files contain extensive comments: see this example.

ServerRoot: Determines location of document root (default depends on the operating system)

Listen: Determines port on which apache listens (default 80)

LoadModule: dynamically loaded modules (php is not loaded by default, you have to delete the "#" to get it loaded).

User: the username of the user for the Web server

Group: the groupname of the user for the Web server

ServerAdmin: the email address of the server administrator

ServerName: the name and port that identifies the server

DocumentRoot: the fully-qualified pathname of the document root

ErrorLog: the fully-qualified path to the error log

LogFormat: the format of a line in the log

UserDir: the name of the directory in the user's space
The module userdir_module is required for this (see LoadModule)

1. What are the two kinds of logs that Apache writes? What does each contain?