I have a funny issue after I sent this computer to jessie.
I used to configure virtual hosts effortlessly, after killing myself to get it right.
Now, I think that I completed all the steps, however I am getting error.
This is /etc/hosts:


This is the dumbsite in /etc/apache2/sites-available:


In /var/www there is a folder dumbsite with a stupid html file based on the default index.html for localhost.
It works if I type localhost/dumbsite so the folder is there.
However I get following error in console:


What am I missing?

< Edited by ckosloff :: Sep 16, 13, 8:12 >
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I am not sure that I am missing something.
I opened terminal as root at /etc/apache2/sites-available
then


and it worked!
So, why was a2ensite command throwing error?
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spoke too soon.
ln -s creates the link but virtual hosting still not working.
typing dumbsite in address bar only serves the default index.html not the one inside dumbsite.
I t kills me that I cannot find the error.
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if you type 'localhost' you should see the default apache page, usually.

As you found, you need sites enabled link to the sites available file.

Since you have allowoverride all switched on, any .htaccess file will override anything in your apache config;

there's so many places an error can occur it's hard to say, you should read all the files for config you have, open them all up in an editor and verify that all paths etc are correct.

I always use apache2 -k restart to restart the server.

Any change to the apache setup requires an apache restart, of course, or it won't see it, it only reads the configs at startup.
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We are making some progress.
Here is output of command:


And here are lines 72~74.

Of course, I did not change anything in apache2.conf.
This ${APACHE_LOCK_DIR} is new, nothing like that was happening before.
The ln -s command worked and created the symlink, however that symlink was not working, it would not give access to the file not even to root, however access was granted to the default config files.
Output of command will explain things better.

As you see although dumbsite is there, it is not an option.
It all stems from this new LOCK_DIR cr#p, but I don't know how to fix.
BTW, I have asked on #httpd on freenode but they are very anal.
Thanks for answer.
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#httpd does not know where the variables in the new apache2.conf come from, they don't troubleshoot Debian.
I think I have to submit bug, it doesn't make sense to get syntax errors on brand new install.
Maybe I'll switch to nginx, heard great praise of it.
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It's not that #apache is anal, it's that they are generally professionals who are only interested in professional level issues, not basic configuration file errors. I never ask sources like that for help unless I have already learned enough to actually avoid basic mistakes.

You're skipping around here, and of course, will not have any success until you stop and fix the errors one by one.

The syntax error is caused by the first error, which is the globals not getting set in apache.

apache on start has two kinds of errors, one is a simple alert, like not having certain dns things etc running, another is an actual error in the syntax, any syntax error will kill all the next steps, so there's exactly zero point in proceeding until you fix the basic stuff.

I'm not clear on how you setup things, or how the errors happened, but I can tell you that I avoid at all costs using tools to do trivial things like linking symbolically things.

If you read through the main config file, you will see that certain things are loaded based on the global paths, so if the global is unset, then of course none of the paths will work, including sites_enabled and sites_available.

Remember, apache is professional software, it requires work to learn what hte stuff does, and how to do it correctly, and you have to have at least a faint working knowledge of the steps it takes to load all of itself when it starts, the error messages you got were quite accurate and tell you everything you need to know, which is that your globals are not loading due to some error somewhere.

The default debian install is going to vary apache version to version, one of the downsides to running debian is that I never reinstall debian, just upgrading the same install year after year, and have only updated apache I think 1 or 2 times in terms of debugging configurations things in the last 8 years, give or take, on my local systems, ie, it just works, unless the core configs change a bit, which they did fairly fundamentally when apache introduced that range of globals, I'm honestly surprised that the default debian install didn't have all those basics running, I suspect you may have accidentally done something wrong with a config file somewhere.

Again, read the actual config file, top to bottom, see where it attempts to load each thing, then open that thing to see what data is contained in it, go step by step until you reach the last steps, which is the loading of the global path + sites_enabled folder.

Here's a sample of a correct start, showing one irrelevant alert:

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In case you're not clear:



So you read tat, and exclude the dpkg thing since that's something from debian itself, then you note: /etc/apache2/envvars:20:export APACHE_LOCK_DIR=/var/lock/apache2$SUFFIX

so the /etc/apache2/envvars is where that variable is set, so that file is clearly not loading, or is incorrectly setup.

Support people like #apache won't help someone in general who doesn't do the basics of debugging (ie, starting apache right, which you learn by reading the directions, for example), it's just a time waster and isn't very fun. Generally when dealing with serious support, you have to demonstrate that you have given it an educated best effort, done the basics, etc, and that there is some actual issue that has to be fixed that is hard to figure out. the old apache support forums I used to use for example did not allow any configuration questions that did not include tested/debugged working code that could be studied and solved if wrong. for example, I never asked anything there until I had given the problem at least 4 to 8 hours of time, and that was a specific issue related to usually mod rewrite, which is very hard to learn.

I'm assuming you did not use any garbage like easyapache or lamp etc to set this apache up, if you did, I won't help you, nor will anyone else who runs or supports apache because those things are just junk that makes everything worse, not better, and are not supportable by anyone other than the people who make them, and even they tend to not know what the heck they are doing.
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The only thing I used is smxi, never edited a config file.
Will go through these steps and be back here, I cannot figure out how a clean install can get all those errors.
I understand it is better not to reinstall, that's why I intend to be always in testing, but it was the only way to get rid of video bugs.
Now I have this other problem and I really need to fix it.
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My configuration is different than what you posted:

There is this Mutex file.
Here is my envvars:

This file I never touched, and I don't want to do that with some expert guidance, so please let me know what I am supposed to do with it.
Please note line 21 of envvars:
it is uncommented however directory /var/lock/apache2 is empty, view hidden files enabled.
Thank you.
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