How to upgrade lighttpd tar ball (source code) installation

Upgrading lighttpd is a piece of cake. There are two methods:

a) Use yum or apt-get or FreeBSD ports / command to update binary lighttpd package

b) Just download latest lighttpd tar ball from official web site and install the same.

Let us see how to upgrade lighttpd using source code (tar ball).

# 1 : Download lighttpd

Use wget or lftp command line http / ftp accelerator tools:
$ cd /opt $ wget http://www.lighttpd.net/download/lighttpd-1.4.17.tar.gz

# 2 : Verify lighttpd

Use sha1sum or md5sum hash to verify lighttpd tar ball integrity:
$ md5sum lighttpd-1.4.17.tar.gz

# 3: Configure lighttpd

Now configure and compile lighttpd web server:
$ ./configure $ make

# 4: Stop lighttpd

First stop currently running lighttpd web server:
# /etc/init.d/lighttpd stop
Make sure you are in installation directory, use the following command to uninstall old version:
# make uninstall

# 5: Install lighttpd

Just enter the following command:
# make install
Start lighttpd:
# /etc/init.d/lighttpd start
Watch out for lighttpd log files for any problems:
# tail -f /var/log/messages # tail -f /var/log/lighttpd/error.log # tail -f /var/log/lighttpd/scripts.log # tail -f /var/log/lighttpd/access.log

A note about binary package upgrade method

You can download rpm file or use yum / apt-get command:
apt-get update lighttpd yum update lighttpd

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