Error: PID file /run/httpd/httpd.pid not readable (yet?) after start. (Apache)

Question

Does anyone know what can cause this error in Apache's error log (particularly in Arch Linux):

PID file /run/httpd/httpd.pid not readable (yet?) after start.

The error is not stopping Apache from running normally (once it is started), but is potentially slowing down my service restart time significantly.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Answer 1

The solution is to adjust the file /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/apache.conf. The default values are wrong. You have to change this

d /run/httpd 0755 root root -

to

d /run/httpd 0755 http http -

.

After restarting apache the PID file will be created with chown http:http and not chown root:root.

Ressources:

• https://mailman.archlinux.org/pipermail/arch-general/2013-July/033891.html
• https://mailman.archlinux.org/pipermail/arch-general/2013-July/033900.html

Answer 2

My take is that this bug is a feature: Nothing I've done has been able to get rid of it (tried everything suggested here and then some) yet the software runs just fine. So, I take it as a slightly mis-written success message - I've started!