How To Install mod_xsendfile on CentOS 8

mod_xsendfile is Apache module to send files efficiently

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install mod_xsendfile on CentOS 8.

What is mod_xsendfile

mod_xsendfile is a small Apache2 module that processes X-SENDFILE headers registered by the original output handler. If it encounters the presence of such header it will discard all output and send the file specified by that header instead using Apache internals including all optimizations like caching-headers and sendfile or mmap if configured. It is useful for processing script-output of e.g. php, perl or any cgi.

We can use yum or dnf to install mod_xsendfile on CentOS 8. In this tutorial we discuss both methods but you only need to choose one of method to install mod_xsendfile.

Install mod_xsendfile on CentOS 8 Using dnf

Update yum database with dnf using the following command.

sudo dnf makecache --refresh

The output should look something like this:

CentOS Linux 8 - AppStream                                       43 kB/s | 4.3 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - BaseOS                                          65 kB/s | 3.9 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - ContinuousRelease                               43 kB/s | 3.0 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - Extras                                          23 kB/s | 1.5 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - FastTrack                                       40 kB/s | 3.0 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - HighAvailability                                36 kB/s | 3.9 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - Plus                                            24 kB/s | 1.5 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - PowerTools                                      50 kB/s | 4.3 kB     00:00    
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux Modular 8 - x86_64           13 kB/s | 9.2 kB     00:00    
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 8 - x86_64                   24 kB/s | 8.5 kB     00:00    
Metadata cache created.

After updating yum database, We can install mod_xsendfile using dnf by running the following command:

sudo dnf -y install mod_xsendfile

Install mod_xsendfile on CentOS 8 Using yum

Update yum database with yum using the following command.

sudo yum makecache --refresh

The output should look something like this:

CentOS Linux 8 - AppStream                                       43 kB/s | 4.3 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - BaseOS                                          65 kB/s | 3.9 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - ContinuousRelease                               43 kB/s | 3.0 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - Extras                                          23 kB/s | 1.5 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - FastTrack                                       40 kB/s | 3.0 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - HighAvailability                                36 kB/s | 3.9 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - Plus                                            24 kB/s | 1.5 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - PowerTools                                      50 kB/s | 4.3 kB     00:00    
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux Modular 8 - x86_64           13 kB/s | 9.2 kB     00:00    
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 8 - x86_64                   24 kB/s | 8.5 kB     00:00    
Metadata cache created.

After updating yum database, We can install mod_xsendfile using yum by running the following command:

sudo yum -y install mod_xsendfile

How To Uninstall mod_xsendfile on CentOS 8

To uninstall only the mod_xsendfile package we can use the following command:

sudo dnf remove mod_xsendfile

mod_xsendfile Package Contents on CentOS 8

/etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/xsendfile.conf
/usr/lib/.build-id
/usr/lib/.build-id/2d
/usr/lib/.build-id/2d/c59c428acdc502eabf449fa15b6c2734f181dc
/usr/lib64/httpd/modules/mod_xsendfile.so
/usr/share/doc/mod_xsendfile
/usr/share/doc/mod_xsendfile/Readme.html

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install mod_xsendfile on CentOS 8 using yum and dnf.