-ASP_GLOBAL = /usr/local/etc/freeside/asp-global
-MASON_HANDLER = /usr/local/etc/freeside/handler.pl
-MASONDATA = /usr/local/etc/freeside/masondata
+#changable now (some things which should go to the others still go to CONF)
+FREESIDE_CONF = /usr/local/etc/freeside
+FREESIDE_LOG = /usr/local/etc/freeside
+FREESIDE_LOCK = /usr/local/etc/freeside
+FREESIDE_CACHE = /usr/local/etc/freeside
+FREESIDE_EXPORT = /usr/local/etc/freeside
+
+MASON_HANDLER = ${FREESIDE_CONF}/handler.pl
+MASONDATA = ${FREESIDE_CACHE}/masondata
+
+#where to put the default configuraiton used by freeside-setup to initialize
+#a new database (not used after that). primarily of interest to distro
+#package maintainers
+DIST_CONF = ${FREESIDE_CONF}/default_conf
+
+#mod_perl v2 1.999_22 on Apache 2.0 through 2.3 (Debian ancient through 7.x)
+#APACHE_VERSION=2
+#Apache 2.4 (Debian 8.x)
+#APACHE_VERSION=2.4
+APACHE_VERSION := $(shell /usr/sbin/apache2 -v | grep -q '\/2\.4\.' && echo '2.4' || echo '2')
+
+#deb (-7 and upgrades)
+#FREESIDE_DOCUMENT_ROOT = /var/www/freeside
+#deb (new installs of 8+) (plus needs more work w/new auth)
+#FREESIDE_DOCUMENT_ROOT = /var/www/html/freeside
+FREESIDE_DOCUMENT_ROOT := $(shell [ ${APACHE_VERSION} = '2.4' ] && echo '/var/www/html/freeside' || echo '/var/www/freeside')