Jyri Virkki wrote:
>>> -  You might want to provide a symbolic link so that users can access 
>>> lighttpd from /usr/lighttpd/bin like the same way we have done for PHP 
>>> and MySQL.
>>>       
>>   
>> What's the logic behind that? Is it mainly to make it easier to get to? 
>>     
>
> Yes but let's also consider the distinction between bins meant for
> human consumption vs. those which are not. We don't, for example, link
> /usr/apache2/2.2/bin/httpd from elsewhere because the normal use case
> is to start it via smf, so the binary being in an inconvenient
> location is of no consequence. smf knows how to find it and that's all
> that matters.
>
> lighttpd is also a web server so naturally falls in the same
> category. Just start via smf and it'll "just work".  I remember the
> earlier comments here about some people starting lighttpd manually
> from the CLI. The thread didn't go far so I didn't see a conclusion on
> whether that's a primary use case or not. 
>   
I asked the Lighttpd forum and had a couple of replies, both came people 
who had a high level of involvement in the Lighttpd community. One said 
that they rarely run the lighttpd executable directly, only when looking 
at issues. The other said to treat it the same as Apache httpd. I love 
the idea of having everyone start lighttpd via SMF, although that will 
require some education which is something I can work on. So I'm now 
reasonably convinced that the correct approach is to treat it like 
Apache httpd. That leaves us with /usr/lighttpd/14/sbin/lighttpd and 
/usr/lighttpd/bin/spawn-fcgi as the path to the executables. Are links 
necessary? I personally would prefer to type /usr/lighttpd/sbin/lighttpd 
than /usr/lighttpd/14/sbin/lighttpd (and I run lighttpd several times a 
day, 50% with SMF and 50% on the command line). At the same time though 
I don't want to create any confusion, confusion that might arise if both 
1.4. and 1.5 are installed and the user has no idea what they are 
running when they type /usr/lighttpd/sbin/lighttpd. Seems to be a case 
of "easier to type" vs "more potential for confusion". I'd go with not 
creating the link, users have several options for making it easier to 
type. i.e.: Learn about SMF, alias it, add it to their path, etc.

Amanda




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