Turning on Web Sharing does not work and fails to load apache web server

Question

Sort of answering my own question here but hope it will be useful to other people and save them some time.
After receiving my shiny new imac with os x lion pre-installed, I was a little dismayed and confused when I went to System Preferences -> Internet and Wireless -> Sharing and attempted to check the Web Sharing. Every time I clicked this option I was told Web Sharing was starting but would then repeatedly fail and apache failed to start.
Looking in the Console I find:
org.apache.httpd: dyld: Library not loaded: /usr/lib/libpq.5.dylib
org.apache.httpd: Referenced from: /usr/sbin/httpd
org.apache.httpd: Reason: image not found
Entering in the console:
vim /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/httpd_2011-08-06-165030_localhost.crash (date and time bit will vary)
reveals:
Process:         httpd [2418]
Path:            /usr/sbin/httpd
Identifier:      httpd
Version:         ??? (???)
Code Type:       X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process:  launchd [1]
Date/Time:       2011-08-06 16:50:30.106 +0100
OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.7 (11A511a)
Report Version:  9
Crashed Thread:  0
Exception Type:  EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000
Application Specific Information:
dyld: launch, loading dependent libraries
Dyld Error Message:
  Library not loaded: /usr/lib/libpq.5.dylib
  Referenced from: /usr/sbin/httpd
  Reason: image not found
Binary Images:
       0x1022f6000 -        0x102352fef  httpd (??? - ???) <9D63FBFD-DD87-3DD5-AD1A-D8A79FEC3EE8> /usr/sbin/httpd
"/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/httpd_2011-08-06-165030_localhost.crash" 32L, 1469C
TO FIX THIS ISSUE:
It appears /usr/lib/libpq.5.dylib does not exist but /usr/lib/libpq.5.3.dylib does.
Fix by creating a symbolic link from /usr/lib/libpq.5.3.dylib to /usr/lib/libpq.5.dylib
=
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libpq.5.3.dylib /usr/lib/libpq.5.dylib
Going back to System Preferences -> Internet and Wireless -> Sharing clicking Web Sharing a couple of times turns Web Sharing on successfully!
Going to http://localhost/ displays the "It Works!" page.
HTH people as it took me a while to find the correct solution online from:
http://www.azattis.com/2011/07/os-x-lion-postgresql-84-install-problem.html

Answer 1

Hi there,
You seemed to have had a similar problem to what I now have and so wondered if you might be able to help me :-)
I have posted this as a new post as well but if anyone has five mins could they take a look - I would be very grateful. Here you go:
I am new to all this so I have probably made some simple errors and I hope someone can help me. I will retell what I have done as I haven't a clue what part of what I have done has mucked things up.
I am really stuck. Web sharing will not start on my iMac running Lion OS X. It did work fine and then I wanted to activate PHP so my test website contact form would work (and send the data on the form throught to my email address.
Before I did anything I turned on websharing and could view my website from another computer using: http://192.168.1.4/~stewartfergusson/
I think followed the instructions on this link to activate PHP -http://foundationphp.com/tutorials/php_leopard.php
I then did a few things in terminal and will paste below what I did:
Last login: Sun Jan  1 09:01:52 on console
Stewart-Fergussons-iMac:~ stewartfergusson$ cd/private/etc
-bash: cd/private/etc: No such file or directory
Stewart-Fergussons-iMac:~ stewartfergusson$ cd
Stewart-Fergussons-iMac:~ stewartfergusson$ cd prvate
-bash: cd: prvate: No such file or directory
Stewart-Fergussons-iMac:~ stewartfergusson$ cd private
-bash: cd: private: No such file or directory
Stewart-Fergussons-iMac:~ stewartfergusson$ cd /private/etc
Stewart-Fergussons-iMac:etc stewartfergusson$ sudo cp php.ini.default php.ini
WARNING: Improper use of the sudo command could lead to data loss
or the deletion of important system files. Please double-check your
typing when using sudo. Type "man sudo" for more information.
To proceed, enter your password, or type Ctrl-C to abort.
Password:
Stewart-Fergussons-iMac:etc stewartfergusson$
Last login: Wed Jan  4 09:03:03 on console
Stewart-Fergussons-iMac:etc stewartfergusson$
Last login: Thu Jan  5 06:19:15 on console
Stewart-Fergussons-iMac:etc stewartfergusson$ sudo In -s /usr/lib/libpq.5.3.dylib /usr/lib/libpq.5.dylib
Password:
sudo: In: command not found
Stewart-Fergussons-iMac:etc stewartfergusson$ sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libpq.5.3.dylib /usr/lib/libpq.5.dylib
ln: /usr/lib/libpq.5.dylib: File exists
Stewart-Fergussons-iMac:etc stewartfergusson$ sudo apachectl -t
Password:
Syntax error on line 1 of /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf:
Invalid command '1', perhaps misspelled or defined by a module not included in the server configuration
Stewart-Fergussons-iMac:etc stewartfergusson$ sudo apachectl configtest
Password:
Syntax error on line 1 of /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf:
Invalid command '1', perhaps misspelled or defined by a module not included in the server configuration
Stewart-Fergussons-iMac:etc stewartfergusson$
An important point to note is that I now appear to have more than one http.config file and they are located in the following locations:
1) Macintosh HD/etc/apache2/httpd.conf.default
2) Macintosh HD/etc/apache2/httpd.conf.default.default
3) Macintosh HD/etc/apache2/original/httpd.conf
I edited this file (which one I have not got a clue) and also the php.ini file within Macintosh HD/etc/ using Terminal - the command I used was sudo cp php.ini.default php.ini
This php.ini file now exists in two locations now as well:
1) Macintosh HD/etc/php.ini
2) Macintosh HD/etc/php.ini.default
I then edited this file by changing the line of code below from:
514 error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE (I think it said E_DEPRECATED actually) but I am lifting this from the web page in the link above)
To:
514 error_reporting = E_ALL
I then saved this file.
I then deactivated web sharing in System Preferences and since then have not been able to restart Web Sharing. I click it and it flashes orange for a second then does not start.
This was all done to activate PHP on my iMac so I can host my own site which has a PHP contact form page.
Please help I am so out of my depth I am very worried I may have changed things and I am going to forget what I did.
If you need to know anything then please ask.
Thank you so much
sfergusson1
'JollyoldEngland'