Faster Performance Accepting Connections Apache works by creating a number of child processes, all of which enter a loop where they wait for a request then process the request. For most operating systems Apache has to be careful to ensure that only one child tries to accept a new connection at once. Other children cannot accept the connection until the file is unlocked. But it can be made faster on certain operating systems by using other methods of implementing mutual exclusion. At present this appears to be Solaris 2 only.
System V semaphores.
Semaphores provide a means of inter-process communications between processes on System V based systems. This is faster on multi-processor systems. In addition to these new methods, some operating systems may be made faster by allowing multiple processes to go into the accept stage without bothering with locking. The distribution of Apache 1.3 for Windows will come complete with a proper installations program. It may also be able to customise the configuration files for the installed system.