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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE manualpage SYSTEM "../style/manualpage.dtd">
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<manualpage metafile="directive-dict.xml.meta">
<title>Terms Used to Describe Directives</title>
<summary>
<p>This document describes the terms that are used to describe
each Apache <a href="directives.html">configuration
directive</a>.</p>
</summary>
<seealso><a href="../configuring.html">Configuration files</a></seealso>
<section id="Description"><title>Description</title>
<p>A brief description of the purpose of the directive.</p>
</section>
<section id="Syntax"><title>Syntax</title>
<p>This indicates the format of the directive as it would
appear in a configuration file. This syntax is extremely
directive-specific, and is described in detail in the
directive's definition. Generally, the directive name is
followed by a series of one or more space-separated arguments.
If an argument contains a space, the argument must be enclosed
in double quotes. Optional arguments are enclosed in square
brackets. Where an argument can take on more than one possible
value, the possible values are separated by vertical bars "|".
Literal text is presented in the default font, while
argument-types for which substitution is necessary are
<em>emphasized</em>. Directives which can take a variable
number of arguments will end in "..." indicating that the last
argument is repeated.</p>
<p>Directives use a great number of different argument types. A
few common ones are defined below.</p>
<dl>
<dt><em>URL</em></dt>
<dd>A complete Uniform Resource Locator including a scheme,
hostname, and optional pathname as in
<code>http://www.example.com/path/to/file.html</code></dd>
<dt><em>URL-path</em></dt>
<dd>The part of a <em>url</em> which follows the scheme and
hostname as in <code>/path/to/file.html</code>. The
<em>url-path</em> represents a web-view of a resource, as
opposed to a file-system view.</dd>
<dt><em>file-path</em></dt>
<dd>The path to a file in the local file-system beginning
with the root directory as in
<code>/usr/local/apache/htdocs/path/to/file.html</code>.
Unless otherwise specified, a <em>file-path</em> which does
not begin with a slash will be treated as relative to the <a
href="core.html#serverroot">ServerRoot</a>.</dd>
<dt><em>directory-path</em></dt>
<dd>The path to a directory in the local file-system
beginning with the root directory as in
<code>/usr/local/apache/htdocs/path/to/</code>.</dd>
<dt><em>filename</em></dt>
<dd>The name of a file with no accompanying path information
as in <code>file.html</code>.</dd>
<dt><em>regex</em></dt>
<dd>A Perl-compatible <a href="../glossary.html#regex">regular
expression</a>. The directive definition will specify what the
<em>regex</em> is matching against.</dd>
<dt><em>extension</em></dt>
<dd>In general, this is the part of the <em>filename</em>
which follows the last dot. However, Apache recognizes
multiple filename extensions, so if a <em>filename</em>
contains more than one dot, each dot-separated part of the
filename following the first dot is an <em>extension</em>.
For example, the <em>filename</em> <code>file.html.en</code>
contains two extensions: <code>.html</code> and
<code>.en</code>. For Apache directives, you may specify
<em>extension</em>s with or without the leading dot. In
addition, <em>extension</em>s are not case sensitive.</dd>
<dt><em>MIME-type</em></dt>
<dd>A method of describing the format of a file which
consists of a major format type and a minor format type,
separated by a slash as in <code>text/html</code>.</dd>
<dt><em>env-variable</em></dt>
<dd>The name of an <a href="../env.html">environment
variable</a> defined in the Apache configuration process.
Note this is not necessarily the same as an operating system
environment variable. See the <a
href="../env.html">environment variable documentation</a> for
more details.</dd>
</dl>
</section>
<section id="Default"><title>Default</title>
<p>If the directive has a default value (<em>i.e.</em>, if you
omit it from your configuration entirely, the Apache Web server
will behave as though you set it to a particular value), it is
described here. If there is no default value, this section
should say "<em>None</em>". Note that the default listed here
is not necessarily the same as the value the directive takes in
the default httpd.conf distributed with the server.</p>
</section>
<section id="Context"><title>Context</title>
<p>This indicates where in the server's configuration files the
directive is legal. It's a comma-separated list of one or more
of the following values:</p>
<dl>
<dt>server config</dt>
<dd>This means that the directive may be used in the server
configuration files (<em>e.g.</em>, <code>httpd.conf</code>), but
<strong>not</strong> within any
<directive module="core" type="section">VirtualHost</directive>
or <directive module="core" type="section">Directory</directive>
containers. It is not allowed in <code>.htaccess</code> files
at all.</dd>
<dt>virtual host</dt>
<dd>This context means that the directive may appear inside
<directive module="core" type="section">VirtualHost</directive>
containers in the server
configuration files.</dd>
<dt>directory</dt>
<dd>A directive marked as being valid in this context may be
used inside <directive module="core"
type="section">Directory</directive>, <directive type="section"
module="core">Location</directive>, <directive module="core"
type="section">Files</directive>, and <directive
module="mod_proxy" type="section">Proxy</directive> containers
in the server configuration files, subject to the restrictions
outlined in <a href="../sections.html">Configuration
Sections</a>.</dd>
<dt>.htaccess</dt>
<dd>If a directive is valid in this context, it means that it
can appear inside <em>per</em>-directory
<code>.htaccess</code> files. It may not be processed, though
depending upon the <a href="#Override"
>overrides</a> currently active.</dd>
</dl>
<p>The directive is <em>only</em> allowed within the designated
context; if you try to use it elsewhere, you'll get a
configuration error that will either prevent the server from
handling requests in that context correctly, or will keep the
server from operating at all -- <em>i.e.</em>, the server won't
even start.</p>
<p>The valid locations for the directive are actually the
result of a Boolean OR of all of the listed contexts. In other
words, a directive that is marked as being valid in
"<code>server config, .htaccess</code>" can be used in the
<code>httpd.conf</code> file and in <code>.htaccess</code>
files, but not within any <directive module="core"
type="section">Directory</directive> or
<directive module="core" type="section">VirtualHost</directive>
containers.</p>
</section>
<section id="Override"><title>Override</title>
<p>This directive attribute indicates which configuration
override must be active in order for the directive to be
processed when it appears in a <code>.htaccess</code> file. If
the directive's <a href="#Context" >context</a>
doesn't permit it to appear in <code>.htaccess</code> files,
then no context will be listed.</p>
<p>Overrides are activated by the <directive
module="core">AllowOverride</directive> directive, and apply
to a particular scope (such as a directory) and all
descendants, unless further modified by other
<directive module="core">AllowOverride</directive> directives at
lower levels. The documentation for that directive also lists the
possible override names available.</p>
</section>
<section id="Status"><title>Status</title>
<p>This indicates how tightly bound into the Apache Web server
the directive is; in other words, you may need to recompile the
server with an enhanced set of modules in order to gain access
to the directive and its functionality. Possible values for
this attribute are:</p>
<dl>
<dt>Core</dt>
<dd>If a directive is listed as having "Core" status, that
means it is part of the innermost portions of the Apache Web
server, and is always available.</dd>
<dt>MPM</dt>
<dd>A directive labeled as having "MPM" status is provided by
a <a href="../mpm.html">Multi-Processing Module</a>. This
type of directive will be available if and only if you are
using one of the MPMs listed on the <a
href="#Module">Module</a> line of the directive
definition.</dd>
<dt>Base</dt>
<dd>A directive labeled as having "Base" status is supported
by one of the standard Apache modules which is compiled into
the server by default, and is therefore normally available
unless you've taken steps to remove the module from your
configuration.</dd>
<dt>Extension</dt>
<dd>A directive with "Extension" status is provided by one of
the modules included with the Apache server kit, but the
module isn't normally compiled into the server. To enable the
directive and its functionality, you will need to change the
server build configuration files and re-compile Apache.</dd>
<dt>Experimental</dt>
<dd>"Experimental" status indicates that the directive is
available as part of the Apache kit, but you're on your own
if you try to use it. The directive is being documented for
completeness, and is not necessarily supported. The module
which provides the directive may or may not be compiled in by
default; check the top of the page which describes the
directive and its module to see if it remarks on the
availability.</dd>
</dl>
</section>
<section id="Module"><title>Module</title>
<p>This quite simply lists the name of the source module which
defines the directive.</p>
</section>
<section id="Compatibility"><title>Compatibility</title>
<p>If the directive wasn't part of the original Apache version
2 distribution, the version in which it was introduced should
be listed here. In addition, if the directive is available
only on certain platforms, it will be noted here.</p>
</section>
</manualpage>
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