apache user does not exist

Question

I'm trying to run the command, chown -R apache:apache xyz But I'm getting error, chown: apache:apache': invalid user

Then I tried for the user www-data, but with same results.

Then I tried to check who owns the apache process by running, ps -Af |grep httpd. I get the following,

root     29577     1  0 18:00 ?        00:00:00 /opt/lampp/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL -DPHP5
nobody   29754 29577  0 18:00 ?        00:00:00 /opt/lampp/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL -DPHP5
nobody   29756 29577  0 18:00 ?        00:00:00 /opt/lampp/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL -DPHP5
nobody   29757 29577  0 18:00 ?        00:00:00 /opt/lampp/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL -DPHP5
nobody   29758 29577  0 18:00 ?        00:00:00 /opt/lampp/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL -DPHP5
nobody   29759 29577  0 18:00 ?        00:00:00 /opt/lampp/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL -DPHP5
nobody   29760 29577  0 18:00 ?        00:00:00 /opt/lampp/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL -DPHP5
root     29785 29358  0 18:04 pts/0    00:00:00 grep httpd

So, where is the apache user?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Your apache runs as the user called "nobody" (Yes nobody is a username).

I have newer seen a linux where the apache user were called apache but you can configure the name in the apache config. Which linux version are you using?

Answer 2

look in the configuration for apache - httpd.conf. The following lines should give you the needed informations.

For the user do:

find / -name httpd.conf | xargs grep -i "^user"

and for the group do:

find / -name httpd.conf | xargs grep -i "^group" 

-Martin