Conventions Used in This Book (Apache: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition)

0.3. Conventions Used in This Book

This section covers the various conventions used in this book.

0.3.1. Typographic Conventions

Constant width: Used for HTTP headers, status codes, MIME content types, directives in configuration files, commands, options/switches, functions, methods, variable names, and code within body text
Constant width bold: Used in code segments to indicate input to be typed in by the user
Constant width italic: Used for replaceable items in code and text
Italic: Used for filenames, pathnames, newsgroup names, Internet addresses (URLs), email addresses, variable names (except in examples), terms being introduced, program names, subroutine names, CGI script names, hostnames, usernames, and group names

0.3.2. Icons

Text marked with this icon applies to the Unix version of Apache.

Text marked with this icon applies to the Win32 version of Apache.

TIP: This icon designates a note relating to the surrounding text.

WARNING: This icon designates a warning related to the surrounding text.

0.3.3. Pathnames

We use the text convention ... / to indicate your path to the demonstration sites, which may well be different from ours. For instance, on our Apache machine, we kept all the demonstration sites in the directory /usr/www. So, for example, our path would be /usr/www/site.simple. You might want to keep the sites somewhere other than /usr/www, so we refer to the path as ... /site.simple.

Don't type .../ into your computer. The attempt will upset it!

0.3.4. Directives

Apache is controlled through roughly 150 directives. For each directive, a formal explanation is given in the following format:

Directive

Syntax
Where used

An explanation of the directive is located here.

So, for instance, we have the following directive:

ServerAdmin

ServerAdmin email address
Server config, virtual host

ServerAdmin gives the email address for correspondence. It automatically generates error messages so the user has someone to write to in case of problems.

The Where used line explains the appropriate environment for the directive. This will become clearer later.