Bug - Apache not starting on Sequoia 15.2

cybergeeks

Since updating to Sequoia 15.2, starting the apache server returns the following error:
No PID file found at '/Users/USER/.indigo/stacks/5F5C8B/apache_B58A/run/apache.pid'.

Tested on a MacBook Pro M1 and a MacBook Air M3

Indigo

Rats! Thanks @cybergeeks for the bug report. I saw this same problem on my own Mac briefly, but I often get random issues due to running dev versions of Indigo, so I was hoping this wouldn't show up in the wild. I likely won't be able to get onto this for a week or two, but at that point hopefully I'll be able to replicate it.

In the meantime, two suggestions which will hopefully help:

have you rebuilt the stack? If not, right-click the stack and choose "Rebuild..."
if that doesn't help, try creating a tiny text file at the path /Users/USER/.indigo/stacks/5F5C8B/apache_B58A/run/apache.pid and have it just contain the number 99 as its contents.
as much as it sounds like a placebo, it may be worth restarting your machine. Unix-based OS's recycle PIDs when they run out, and Indigo currently doesn't handle this well. (I have been trialling a fix for this quite successfully for a week or two so this will be added in the next version.)

Let me know how you go.

cybergeeks

Tried rebuilding the stack many times, same result.

Creating an apache.pid file with "99" as content allowed the stack to start without any error message. But it doesn't look like apache actually started. Visiting a locally hosted site returned a 502 bad gateway error. Searching for a running process named httpd also returned nothing.

Thanks for your help

Indigo

You're right! It's very strange; Indigo assembles the following command and runs it, but it's failing. This is unchanged from previous Indigo versions which all worked fine. When run on the command line it also appears to work fine:

sudo <path to apache>/bin/httpd -E <path to apache>/log/startup_error.log -f <path to apache>/conf/httpd.conf -k start

(where <path to apache> looks like /Users/USER/.indigo/stacks/5F5C8B/apache_B58A)

If this issue is interfering with your productivity in the immediate term, I think you should be able to manually make Apache start by running that command in the terminal. Obviously that's not a solution; I'm still researching the underlying cause.

fujiiCG

The same problem as @cybergeeks. I’ve tried the solutions you suggest and nothing works. I’ve tried restarting, rebuilding, and even uninstalling and reinstalling Indigo while cleaning all the files, and still nothing.
The command doesn’t return an error and seems to launch Apache properly, but I still need the rest of my stack services to run: PHP and MySQL.
It’s very frustrating.

Indigo

@fujiiCG frustrating indeed. Sorry to hear you have the same issue. It works fine on my cleanly-reset QA machine running 15.2, but not on another 15.2 Mac I have, so I'm trying to work out what's different.

I believe you can actually get it to run, but the process is getting ridiculous. You have to combine the above steps, like so:

add the bogus PID file. Indigo checks this as an indication that Apache started up, so without it Indigo believes it has failed to start (which it actually has, but we want to trick Indigo into continuing to start the whole stack).
start up the stack. It should start fine, all green lights, except httpd is not actually running yet.
run the command stated above. httpd will now be running (they should appear in Activity Monitor)

I have tested this and can confirm it did work, however please do let me know if you try this and it still doesn't work for you.

Clearly, this is an emergency method to get things running. I am researching the underlying issue and will post here again when I know more.

Tom84

Indigo These steps worked for me as well, thank you! Keep up the great work!

fujiiCG

Well, at least this way it works. A thousand thanks for the response and for the tireless work you do to maintain and evolve this app.
I’ll be looking forward to future updates.
Great job!!!

Joe91

Having the same issue on a MacBook Pro M2 on macOS Ventura 13.5. Only became an issue after I was forced to upgrade to the latest version of Indigo

Indigo

Hey all, thanks so much for your patience. I'm glad to report I have a new build which has resolved the issue. I'm planning to release that either today or tomorrow.

For those who are interested, it looks like this has actually boiled down to a code signature issue; file diffs between the entire broken apache service directory and a previous working one show no differences in any of the files, which initially led me to look into many other corners of the current build. However, the fact that the current Apache launches just fine from the command line tells me the binaries are actually fine. Launching from the command line bypasses Gatekeeper's signature checks, in which case incorrectly-signed binaries will launch just fine.

As a consequence of all this, I have identified improvements that can be made to our QA processes and will be progressively implementing them.

Indigo

Just a quick note to say v1.1.1 is now available and resolves this issue in testing.

Don't forget to rebuild your stacks to get the new Apache service. Let me know how you go!