[Solved] After upgrade to Mint 21, apache will not start

[Avatar1]

I already solved this, with help from the IRC peeps, but I wanted to post the problem and solution here in case it helps anyone else.

Problem: apache will not start. Error is the cryptic "Failed to start the Apache HTTP Server."
When doing

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sudo journalctl -xe

, no help there: "apache2.service: failed with result 'exit-code'"
You get more information by going to /etc/apache2 directory and type

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apache2ctl configtest

I saw this error:

apache2: Syntax error on line 149 of /etc/apache2/apache2.conf: Syntax error on line 3 of /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/php7.4.load: Cannot load /usr/lib/apache2/modules/libphp7.4.so into server: /usr/lib/apache2/modules/libphp7.4.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Action 'configtest' failed.
The Apache error log may have more information.

Wait, why is it trying to load php7.4? I saw during the upgrade that it was uninstalling php7.4 and installing php8.1 in its place.
Checking /etc/apache2/mods-enabled does show the php7.4 modules and not php8.1.
Sure enough,

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dpkg -l | grep php

shows php7.4 still installed, and

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sudo a2enmod php7.4

states "Module php7.4 already enabled"
So I think the mintinstaller messed up a little bit here.

So the fix ended up being

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sudo a2dismod php7.4
sudo a2enmod php8.1
systemctl restart apache2

Apache now starts! Thanks to this link for the hints: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/720 ... -ubuntu-22

Still can't get phpmyadmin working, but one thing at a time

[arimakidd]

This post is a real life saver. Thank you and thak you.