SOLVED lm20.1 apache2 suddenly autostarting

[sadhu]

I have been running xampp for web site development for years. i tried apache2 for a while, but find it simpler (and more secure, from what I hear) to run xampp. One of my localhost sites is my default home page, but earlier today it stopped loading; after fooling around with /opt/lampp/lampp stop and /opt/lampp/lampp start I found that there was another apache2 server running.

I didn't start it. Is it possible some dodgy site slipped in some kind of malware? Or do you know of any apps such as zoom or perhaps WhatsApp (for desktop) that may have caused this to happen? The thing is, neither app was running when I noticed the change, and I did (ashamed to admit) visited a site that I was warned against...

Anyway, I uninstalled and autoremoved apache2.

How can I be sure that any malware has been removed, as well? Or is there some browser add-on that has apache2 as a dependency?


Thanks
Sadhu

[Petermint]

xampp has apache as a dependency. Nothing else that I know of.

I use Nginx instead of Apache. Back when I used Apache, Xampp was always such a painful mix of weirdness that it caused more problems than what it solved. It probably installed Apache 2. You installed another Apache 2. There are endless tails in Linux forums from installing two of anything major.

A clean full removal of xampp and Apache 2 should help. Then you can install your choice of replacement. If your install of Apache 2 was recent, you might revert back to an earlier date using Timeshift then work forward without installing the second copy of Apache.

Installing Apache, PHP, and MariaDB/MySQL from the Software Manager is relatively easy. Usually the only problem is using a password in MariaDB/MySQL then forgetting it.

Some PHP applications might ask for modules not in the default install. You can just click on them in the Software Manager. Restart Apache or reboot. Done.

[sadhu]

Thanks.

I removed apache2 from linux and the problem went away.

xampp has its own copy of apache2 in /opt/lampp.

I prefer xampp because its a one-stop shopping exercise; one installation handles everything for web site development. I don't need to worry about configuration files and software updates causing problems. Which occasionally happened when I was trying to do web site work in native php, mysql, and apache2.

I'm going to mark this solved.

=sadhu