Right, the binaries do have manifests embedded. But those provide info about required dependencies. And Windows will look for them somewhere in winsxs directory by default.
Not so, Windows will look for them in directories in the order you know full well about.
This is the manafest to the vc9 build linked above, look at the single dependency,
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' standalone='yes'?>
<assembly xmlns='urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1' manifestVersion='1.0'>
<trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
<security>
<requestedPrivileges>
<requestedExecutionLevel level='asInvoker' uiAccess='false' />
</requestedPrivileges>
</security>
</trustInfo>
<dependency>
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity type='win32' name='Microsoft.VC90.CRT' version='9.0.21022.8' processorArchitecture='x86' publicKeyToken='1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b' />
</dependentAssembly>
</dependency>
</assembly>
I guess I lied, I do not remember doing it but the vc9 redistributable is there, quite possibly it was included with SP3. The vc10 is not however yet it still runs, if I move the vc10 crt out of bin it will not run.
None the less, I'm going to take my guinea pig and put it at a fresh SP2 and give it a try on it with vc9 & no redist.
@Perindu, the compiler is slower and bloated, the resulting binaries are smaller. The only bloat in Apache is Apache's bloat. 2.2 is bloated, 2.4 will be a much different server as so much has been ripped out of the core and placed in loadable modules. If you don't need it, don't load it.
But instead of taking our word for it, give it a try. It only takes a few minutes. Our server comes configured to run in c:\apache22. Put it there, drop the crt dll in the bin folder and give it a try, or wait till I get back with my test of doing the same.
Here's the crt
http://www.apachehaus.net/misc/msvcr90.zipStill, I know I did it a couple years ago on the AMD box that is collecting dust in the garage now. It's how MS tells you to do it as well.