httpd: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name

I know this question's been looked at a lot, but the solutions here aren't solving them.

Let's start with a bit of background info:

OS X 10.8.4 Apache 2.2.22

The problem: I get this error in the console and Apache can't find my localhost, but does start ok. Weird.

[Sat Aug 17 13:40:06 2013] [info] mod_ssl/2.2.22 compiled against Server: Apache/2.2.22, Library: OpenSSL/0.9.8r
httpd: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using Specter.local for ServerName

So normally this would point to my ServerName not being set right. Well it is :/ and I've tried with different variants like Specter.local, localhost, etc

Here's a copy of my /private/etc/httpd.conf & this is the same for /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf

# ServerName gives the name and port that the server uses to identify itself.
# This can often be determined automatically, but we recommend you specify
# it explicitly to prevent problems during startup.
#
# If your host doesn't have a registered DNS name, enter its IP address here.
#
ServerName localhost

My host file is setup as follows:

127.0.0.1   localhost localhost.local
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
127.0.0.1       themill.dev
127.0.0.1       phpmyadmin.dev
127.0.0.1       Specter.local

In my /private/etc/apache2/users/ta.conf is the following

#
# Use name-based virtual hosting.
#
NameVirtualHost *:80
# DEV: THEMILL SITE
<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerAdmin test@dummy.com
  DocumentRoot "/Users/ta/Sites/themill/htdocs"
  ServerName themill.dev
  ServerAlias *.themill.dev
  ErrorLog "/Users/ta/Sites/themill/log/error_log"
  CustomLog "/Users/ta/Sites/themill/log/access_log" common
</VirtualHost>

# PHPMYADMIN
<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerAdmin test@dummy.com
  DocumentRoot "/Users/ta/Sites/phpmyadmin"
  ServerName phpmyadmin.dev
  ServerAlias *.phpmyadmin.dev 
  ErrorLog "/Users/ta/Sites/phpmyadmin/log/error_log"
  CustomLog "/Users/ta/Sites/phpmyadmin/log/access_log" common
</VirtualHost>

Not sure what else should be configured really. It used to work but post the 10.7 upgrade, it's never worked and now that I'm trying to solve it it's doing my head in.

Let me know if you need more info.

Solution

Ignore ALL of the advice about setting ServerNames. IMHO this is a red herring. Apache is trying to use standard system components to determine a FQDN and not finding anything suitable. Sure, you could subvert this process by adding a directive globally to Apache, but methinks this is treating the symptom. You should have ServerName directives in your virtualhost blocks, of course.

Instead, edit your hosts file and be sure that you have a FQDN listed there. I have seen various suggestions on the syntax for the particular 127* line, but I think that it doesn't matter what order things are in, so long as there is a FQDN listed:

127.0.0.1       localhost.localdomain   localhost       foo.example.com

This worked for me and seemed much more to the point than all of the other "worked for me!" upvotes on posts recommending you edit httpd.conf and such. I hope this helps and that I don't get downvoted. If you disagree, please state why with examples. Thanks.

http://wiki.apache.org/httpd/CouldNotDetermineServerName

Once Apache can determine the system's FQDN, it will then read your specific ServerName directives for your NameBasedHosts.