libapr2 on Sles11 64bit

I’m currently having a hard time getting libapr2 with the Perl Module Apache2::Request and the Apache2 Module to run properly on a SLES (SuSE Linux Enterprise Server) 11 with a 64 bit kernel. I’m getting undefined symbols and missing libraries etc. I need that module for a network documentation tool called [[https://netdot.uoregon.edu/trac/|Netdot]]

I found out what to do and thought, that I should blog about this in case my mind fails the next time or anybody else has the same problem.

So. First, install the needed development packages (use the SDK-DVDs when neccessary or use online repositories like [[http://demeter.uni-regensburg.de/SLES11-SDK-x64/DVD1/]]):

zypper install apache2-mod_perl-devel apache2-devel

Install all requirements, of course.

Then, download the official release from the Apache download server [[http://httpd.apache.org/apreq/download.cgi]]. Don’t rely on CPAN here, because it simply doesn’t work. Download it to something like /usr/local/src, check the md5sum and extract it.

Skip the perl Makefile.PL now (all it does is run the configure with two parameters) and go to ./configure directly. Use these parameters:

./configure –libdir=/usr/lib64 –with-apache2-apxs=/usr/sbin/apxs2 –with-perl=/usr/bin/perl

After configure, open up config.status in an editor and change line # 624 from

s,@APACHE2_INCLUDES@,|#_!!_#|-I/usr/include/apache2,g

to

s,@APACHE2_INCLUDES@,|#_!!_#|-I/usr/include/apache2 -I/usr/include/apache2/modules/perl,g

(If there’s a less crude way for that, please let me know).

Now, replace every occurence of apreq_module with apreq2_module in these files in module/apache2:

* filter.c
* handle.c
* apreq_private_apache2.h

Then go ahead and to a make, make test, make install. Everything should go fine.

Last thing, go to /etc/sysconfig/apache and add apreq2 to the APACHE_MODULES line to load the module and start apache.