Overview

VirtualHostAdd is a command-line tool for Debian 12—and derived Linux distributions—designed to simplify the creation and configuration of virtual hosts on the Apache HTTP Server, for PHP and CGI-based applications. It automates the entire process, handling directory structure, Apache configuration, MPM and Apache modules handling, and file/directory permissions, reducing manual setup time and errors for developers and sysadmins.

Types of virtual hosts supported:

1. PHP-based virtual hosts: configured to use PHP FastCGI, allowing seamless and fast execution of PHP applications.
2. CGI-based virtual hosts: configured using the Apache cgi module, setting up a Python front controller by default that can be adapted to other scripting languages such as Perl, Ruby, or Bash, among others.

Features

🔹 Automatically generates the necessary Apache configuration files based on the selected application type.

🔹 Creates a structured and organised web directory with a standardised setup.

🔹 Ensures proper permissions for web directories and files, avoiding common access issues.

🔹 Simplifies SSL/TLS setup by allowing easy certificate integration with Let’s Encrypt.

🔹 Supports both PHP and CGI-based applications, ensuring seamless integration and execution for web applications.

🔹 Flexible CGI configuration, making it easy to replace Python with any other scripting language.

🔹 Optionally converts the root directory into a Bazaar repository to facilitate simplified deployment.

Installation

Installation from the Debian package

# Download the latest Debian package
wget https://gitlab.com/eugeniabahit/virtualhostadd/-/raw/v2.2-beta/vhostadd_2.2~beta2_all.deb

# Install the vhostadd command-line tool
sudo apt install ./vhostadd_2.2~beta2_all.deb

Manual Installation

Requirements:
- apache2, python3 (>=3.11), php (>=7), tree, python3-pip

Optional:
- bzr

Clone the GitLab repository with SSH:

git clone git@gitlab.com:eugeniabahit/virtualhostadd.git

Usage:

cd Debian\ sources/sbin
sudo ./vhostadd

To build a Debian package execute build.sh:

./build.sh

Usage

Syntax

vhostadd [{-h,--help}] [{-h,--version}] -s HOST [-l {php,python,cgi}] [-tls] [--h2={true,false}]

Options:

• -s (mandatory) → Specifies the hostname of the virtual host.
• -l (optional) → Defines the language to create a language-based virtual host. Default: php.
  • Accepts php, py, or cgi (where python and cgi are synonyms).
• -tls (optional) → If present, adds a Let’s Encrypt certificate for the virtual host. Default: false.
• --h2 (optional) → Disables HTTP/2 compatibility when set to false. Default: true.

Examples

Adding a new CGI-based virtual host:

vhostadd -s mynewhost.com
vhostadd -s subdomain.mynewhost.com
vhostadd -s mynewhost.com -l python
vhostadd -s mynewhost.com -l cgi

Adding a new PHP-based virtual host:

vhostadd -s mynewhost.com -l php
vhostadd -s subdomain.mynewhost.com -l php

Adding a new Let’s Encrypt signed virtual host:

vhostadd -s mynewhost.com -tls
vhostadd -s mynewhost.com -l cgi -tls
vhostadd -s subdomain.mynewhost.com -l php -tls

Disabling HTTP/2 Compatibility

vhostadd -s mynewhost.com --h2=false
vhostadd -s mynewhost.com -l cgi --h2=false
vhostadd -s subdomain.mynewhost.com -l php --h2=false

Note that the following two directives are equivalent since the default value of --h2 is true.

vhostadd -s mynewhost.com -l cgi -tls --h2=true
vhostadd -s mynewhost.com -l cgi -tls

Getting Help

To access the built-in help documentation, run:

vhostadd --help

To read the manual page for VirtualHostAdd, use:

man vhostadd

Uninstallation

To remove VirtualHostAdd from your system, run:

sudo apt remove vhostadd

If you installed VirtualHostAdd manually via dpkg, remove it with:

sudo dpkg --remove vhostadd

Licence

VirtualHostAdd is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later. See the LICENSE file for details.

Author

• 👩‍💻 Developed by: Eugenia Bahit
• 📧 Contact: contact@eugeniabahit.co.uk
• 🌐 Web: www.eugeniabahit.co.uk
• 📌 GitLab Repository: https://gitlab.com/eugeniabahit/virtualhostadd