i did use sudo
 

the lack of sudo was not the problem... the files are set to the original permissions.
the first thing i did was revert to the original backup files.
i ran

sudo apachectl configtest
Password:
Sorry, try again.
Password:
Processing config directory: /private/etc/httpd/users/*.conf
Processing config file: /private/etc/httpd/users/itimac.conf
Processing config file: /private/etc/httpd/users/myrkr.conf
Syntax OK

so it seems that the config files are OK

i have been using text wrangler set to unix line endings.

i did a differences check between the "httpd.conf.default" and "httpd.conf.bak" files
there were some odd differences

--------------------httpd.conf.bak----------------httpd.conf.default
MinSpareServers---------5-------------------------------1
MaxSpareServers--------10------------------------------5

StartServers--------------5-------------------------------1

MaxRequestsPerChild-----0----------------------------100000

------------------------------------------------LoadModule bonjour_module ....

-------------------------------------------------AddModule bonjour_module.c ....

User------------------nobody----------------------------www
Group-----------------nobody----------------------------www

ServerAdmin----you@your.address------#.....(commented out)

UserDir---------------public_html----------------------------sites

<Directory-----------/home/*/public_html-----------------/Users/*/sites

----------------------------------------------------extra<IfModule... for the bonjour_module>

the .bak seems to be a standard Unix configuration, while the .default seems to be the standard Apple configuration. But what threw me was the group and user. i switched the '.conf' file to use the nobody '.bak' file and it worked.

So if anybody has an idea why the change made a difference i would like to hear it.

i think it has to do with the user and group. i dont know why the www user doesnt work anymore. it runs fine as nobody...

i just switched back...
 

i just switched back to the old '.conf' just to see if it really was the group and it runs just fine as user and group 'www'.

i think it is really odd because i tried using that '.conf' file before and it did not work.

so i basically have no idea what the problem is... i will try to re-enable the 'php_module' and see what happens.

php does it but...
 

but i cannot simply reload the apple-type '.conf' file. i must start apache using the unix type file then restart apache using the apple file.

So if anyone knows... i will check to see if i have php installed... i dont see why it wouldn't be.

That doesn't seem right.
Restarting Apache should make it completely forget what the original settings were - so it shouldn't make any difference.

You need to use what you call the "Apple-type" file.
You should check to be sure that you haven't modified it from the way Apple supplied it by checking against the version of that file that is on the CD or DVD that came with your OS. You can use the 3rd-party utility "Pacifist" to extract it from the CD/DVD.

You can use the Unix tool 'diff' to check what changes you have made:
diff file1 file2

after i broke it again by trying to enable php.... i ran...

[it-imac:~] myrkr% sudo apachectl graceful
Password:
/usr/sbin/apachectl graceful: httpd gracefully restarted

it was broken... i could not access it using safari by means of 'localhost' or '127.0.0.1'.
i then ran...(this is the apple type file)....

[it-imac:~] myrkr% sudo cp /private/etc/httpd/httpd.conf.default /private/etc/httpd/httpd.conf

and restarted using....

[it-imac:~] myrkr% sudo apachectl graceful /usr/sbin/apachectl graceful: httpd not running, trying to start
Processing config directory: /private/etc/httpd/users/*.conf
Processing config file: /private/etc/httpd/users/itimac.conf
Processing config file: /private/etc/httpd/users/myrkr.conf
/usr/sbin/apachectl graceful: httpd started

it didn't start up so i ran...(this is the unix type file)...

[it-imac:~] myrkr% sudo cp /private/etc/httpd/httpd.conf.bak /private/etc/httpd/httpd.conf

i tried the command .....

[it-imac:~] myrkr% sudo apachectl graceful /usr/sbin/apachectl graceful: httpd not running, trying to start
/usr/sbin/apachectl graceful: httpd started

it started up, but i didn't want to use this '.conf' file, so i ran the incorrect then the correct command....

[it-imac:~] myrkr% sudo cp /private/etc/httpd/httpd.conf.bak /private/etc/httpd/httpd.conf
[it-imac:~] myrkr% sudo cp /private/etc/httpd/httpd.conf.default /private/etc/httpd/httpd.conf

and restarted ....

[it-imac:~] myrkr% sudo apachectl graceful /usr/sbin/apachectl graceful: httpd gracefully restarted

it worked as it should have in the begining...
i extracted the original apple file from the cd to my desktop and ran the diff command...

[it-imac:~] myrkr% diff /Users/myrkr/Desktop/httpd.conf.default /private/etc/httpd/httpd.conf
[it-imac:~] myrkr%

no results i assume means no differences...
the 'text wrangler' difference finder also reports no differences.

perhaps someone can make sense of this...

Umm - it says that it started up: "httpd started".
I guess you mean that it didn't seem to work when you tried some URL in your browser. So please tell us what URL you tried and where you have put your HTML files, and what error message you got, etc.

the browser is told to go to http://localhost/ which is also known as 127.0.0.1, also the same as if i typed my own ipaddress , and i get a connection refused error. the system log shows that httpd crashes right after it starts.

'Safari can’t open the page “http://localhost/” because it could not connect to the server “localhost”.'

Firefox says, 'the connection was refused when attempting to contact localhost.'

i dont even have to change the config files...a simple 'sudo apachectl graceful' causes a crash.

If the web server has crashed, then of course you will get a connection refused error. So when you said that it isn't working, what you really meant was that Apache is crashing. That is quite a lot different.

To debug an application crash, the most important thing to do is to look at the crash logs. These are most easily accessible via the "Console" application.
Launch the "Console" application (under /Applications/Utilities) and look for relevant error messages. Note that messages are labeled with the date & time so you can use that to locate the part of the log to look at. Copy & paste the relevant messages back here so we can see them.
If the log refers to a crash log, press the "Logs" button (top-left) and go into the ~/Library/Logs section to find that particular crash log. Copy & paste back here the last portion of that crash log - the part that gives details about the last crash (or preferably attach it as a plain text file, using the "Manage Attachments" button at the bottom when you reply).

But before doing this, you should go back to the Apple-supplied version of Apache (I presume you saved a copy - otherwise extract it from the DVD/CD as before) and check that all works well with that.
If so, the problem is likely with whatever changes you have made to the 'httpd' executable and any shared libraries that it loads.

It is important to note that if you start using versions of software extracted from the DVD/CD, you won't have the updates that Apple may have supplied since the release of that DVD/CD and the files in /Library/Receipts will prevent Software Update from noticing that you are using an old version. Hence you may miss important security updates etc.