Apache Config Generator

Programmatically construct your Apache configuration using a powerful DSL built in Ruby.

As of version 0.2.7, your destination config directory is destroyed and re-created each time the apache:create Rake task is run.

Installation

gem install apache-config-generator

Usage

Run apache-configurator to create a new directory to hold your config files. A Rakefile, Gemfile, and config.yml file will also be generated.

Rakefile tasks

Apache Config Generator defines several tasks for managing Apache config files:

  • apache:create creates your config files for the specified environment
  • apache:environments lists all possible environments that can be generated
  • apache:default sets a default environment to use with a parameter-less apache:create (or the default rake task)

Building a config file

Configs center around the Apache::Config.build method:

Apache::Config.build('sites-available/my-site.conf') do
server_name 'my-cool-website.cool.wow'
document_root '/var/www/my-cool-website'

server_admin! "[email protected]"

directory '/' do
  options :follow_sym_links, :indexes
  allow_from_all
end

location_match %r{^/secret} do
  deny_from_all

  basic_authentication "My secret", '/etc/apache2/users/global.users', :user => :john
  satisfy :any
end

rewrites "My old content" do
  cond "%{HTTP_REFERER}", '!^my-cool-website\.cool\.wow$'
  rule %r{\.(gif|jpg|png|pdf)$}, '/lol-image-stealer.html', :last => true, :redirect => true

  rewrite_test '/index.html', '/index.html', :http_referer => 'other.site'
  rewrite_test '/index.gif', '/lol-image-stealer.html', :http_referer => 'other.site'
  rewrite_test '/index.gif', '/index.gif', :http_referer => 'my-cool-website.cool.wow'
end
end

Notes on how the conversion works:

  • Methods within the build block are translated into NerdCapsed Apache directives.
  • Directives that house children take blocks that contain the child methods.
  • Directives that expect regular expressions take a Regexp object.
  • Passing a String as a parameter, by default, double-quotes it.
  • Passing in a Symbol does not quote the parameter.
    • Some directives NerdCap Symbols, such as Options
  • Appending an exclamation point to the method turns off quoting.
  • Shortcut methods are defined as modules under the Apache module.

There are also sanity checks that occur when configuration is being generated:

  • Directives that rely on a path will check to see if the path exists.
  • Since you need to use Regexp objects for directives that require a regular expression, bad expressions will be flagged by the Ruby interpreter.
  • Rewrite rules can be tested with the rewrite_test method.

The above config is transformed into the following:

ServerName "my-cool-website.cool.wow"
DocumentRoot "/var/www/my-cool-website"
ServerAdmin john@coswellproductions.com

<Directory "/">
Options FollowSymLinks, Indexes
Allow from all
</Directory>

<LocationMatch "^/secret">
Deny from all

AuthType Basic
AuthName "My secret"
AuthUserFile "/etc/apache2/users/global.users"
Require user john
</LocationMatch>

RewriteCond "%{HTTP_REFERER}" "^!my-cool-website\.cool\.wow"
RewriteRule "\.(gif|jpg|png|pdf)$" "/lol-image-stealer.html" [L,R]

The destination configs directory is destroyed and re-created each time the apache:create Rake task is run.

Using Apache::Config separately

Include the gem and access the methods on Apache::Config directly. See test/example_standalone.rb for an example.