./configure --prefix=/usr/local/apache --enable-so
I understand what the prefix does, its the module theory.
>From my understanding --enable-so, enable shared objects.
So correct me if i'm wrong I can now, in the httpd.conf load a module via, for example:
LoadModule php5_module modules/libphp5.so
Yes of course, it's well explained in the comments inside httpd.conf (or apache2.conf). Newer releases (I think from 2.0.54) have another module management, even if the old style is supported too.
But then there are commands such as:
--add-module=module_type:/path/to/3rdparty/mod_foo.c --enable-module=shared
&
--enable-module=shared
What do each of these do?
Why would I ever need this if I have used --enable-so ?
I installed PHP using ./configure --enable-so and everything worked fine.
If you are concerned with 3rdparty modules (not shipped with the apache tarball) apache must know where to look for that code. Apache is great but still cannot write 3rdparty code ;-)
Also where does apxs come into it all?
When I configured PHP I used:
./configure --with-apxs2=/usr/local/apache/bin/apxs
I don't really understand what this means?
This tell PHP to build a shared module, the one your going to load in apache, which in turns doesn't ships php modules.
Apache and PHP compile howtos will help you more than this, but if you don't need a particular feature for both of them... go with Debian packages.
cheers