Download the package you need – http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi

Untar it and go into the downloaded folder.

Compile it with the flags you need – http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/programs/configure.html

In my case I needed file_cache which was disable by default

./configure --enable-file-cache --enable-rewrite --enable-headers --enable-expires --enable-deflate --enable-proxy

Then make and install it

make

make install

Now lets create the startup script for httpd on for a centos service so we can start it with service httpd start etc.

I borrow this script from – http://www.zrinity.com/developers/apache/apache2src.cfm

#!/bin/bash
#
# Startup script for the Apache Web Server
#
# chkconfig: - 85 15
# description: Apache is a World Wide Web server. It is used to serve \
# HTML files and CGI.
# processname: httpd
# pidfile: /usr/local/apache2/logs/httpd.pid
# config: /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf

# Source function library.
. /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions

if [ -f /etc/sysconfig/httpd ]; then
. /etc/sysconfig/httpd
fi

# This will prevent initlog from swallowing up a pass-phrase prompt if
# mod_ssl needs a pass-phrase from the user.
INITLOG_ARGS=""

# Path to the apachectl script, server binary, and short-form for messages.
apachectl=/usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl
httpd=/usr/local/apache2/bin/httpd
pid=$httpd/logs/httpd.pid
prog=httpd
RETVAL=0

# The semantics of these two functions differ from the way apachectl does
# things -- attempting to start while running is a failure, and shutdown
# when not running is also a failure. So we just do it the way init scripts
# are expected to behave here.
start() {
echo -n $"Starting $prog: "
daemon $httpd $OPTIONS
RETVAL=$?
echo
[ $RETVAL = 0 ] && touch /var/lock/subsys/httpd
return $RETVAL
}
stop() {
echo -n $"Stopping $prog: "
killproc $httpd
RETVAL=$?
echo
[ $RETVAL = 0 ] && rm -f /var/lock/subsys/httpd $pid
}
reload() {
echo -n $"Reloading $prog: "
killproc $httpd -HUP
RETVAL=$?
echo
}

# See how we were called.
case "$1" in
start)
start
;;
stop)
stop
;;
status)
status $httpd
RETVAL=$?
;;
restart)
stop
start
;;
condrestart)
if [ -f $pid ] ; then
stop
start
fi
;;
reload)
reload
;;
graceful|help|configtest|fullstatus)
$apachectl $@
RETVAL=$?
;;
*)
echo $"Usage: $prog {start|stop|restart|condrestart|reload|status"
echo $"|fullstatus|graceful|help|configtest}"
exit 1
esac

exit $RETVAL

Next run chkconfig to setup runlevels for which httpd will run:

chkconfig --add httpd

chkconfig --level 2345 httpd on

chkconfig --list

Thats it.