Cross-platform restart of Apache

Question

I'd like to have a single command that'll restart Apache on any *nix OS. Currently I'm working with Ubuntu, which has

• /usr/sbin/apache2ctl
• /usr/sbin/service
• no apachectl
• no httpd

and Scientific Linux CERN 5, which has

• /usr/sbin/apachectl
• /etc/init.d/httpd
• no apache2ctl
• no service

I'd like to avoid using a hack like which service 2>/dev/null || which /etc/init.d/httpd

Answer 1

apachectl / apache2ctl is the apache built in tool to control apache, it's probably the right tool to use in your case as it comes with apache it will be the some on all OS.
apachectl is normally for Apache 1.x and apache2ctl for Apache 2.x.
If SLC5 comes with Apache 2.x it's quite strange but you could run both apachectl and apache2ctl in your script.

Answer 2

You could use a script that checks which apachectl is installed and then run the appropriate one.

#!/bin/bash

if [ -e /usr/sbin/apacche2ctl ]
then
    /usr/sbin/apache2ctl restart
elif [ -e /usr/sbin/apachectl ]
then
    /usr/sbin/apachectl restrt
else
    echo "No Apache control program found"
fi