Questions and Answers about modules not provided with IBM HTTP Server

What do I need to know about using apxs provided by IBM HTTP Server

Why might a particular third-party module not build correctly with IHS?

IBM does not provide support for building third party modules, but the regular facilities used to build Apache modules are not restricted in any way. Some potential pitfalls in third party modules:

Why does APXS reference a non-existent /opt/IBMIHS directory?

A defect exists in 6.1.0.23 on z/Linux only that causes apxs, the tool used to compile out-of-tree modules, to reference the compiled-in server root instead of the installation PATH. <ihsinst>/build/config_vars.mk is unnecessarily replaced by this fixpack and the logic to replace the "default" values is only run during a Full Install.

The file can be updated by changing to the <ihsinst> directory and running bin/updateinstallpath $PWD.

On unaffected systems, or after re-running bin/updateinstallpath, some entries in <ihsinst>/build/config_vars.mk will continue to reflect build-time values, but they are not required to match the installation directory for apxs.

Can I use PHP with IBM HTTP Server?

IBM never provides any support for configuring/building/using any modules not provided as part of the IHS installation. Additionally, there are some PHP-specific issues to note.

License issues

Technical issues

Why isn't mod_auth_form part of IBM HTTP Server

mod_auth_form allows Apache to accept credentials via an HTML form instead of HTTP Basic Authentication. Unfortunately, it requires the services of mod_session to allow a once-per-session form-based challenge to authenticate a user for some period of time

In turn, mod_session requires at least one of session persistence (via a database abstraction layer) or additional cryptographic routines inside of Apache Portable Runtime (APR), a low level library Apache HTTP Server is built on. These functions are not available in the IBM's build of APR.

It is not consistent with IBM's strategy to replicate this application server functionality in IBM HTTP Server, and the drag of cryptography and database drivers into IBM HTTP Server is too great to include this module in IHS.

Because of these dependencies, it is not practical for users to compile their own mod_auth_form and mod_session in IBM HTTP Server.