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Posted to dev@httpd.apache.org by Rodent of Unusual Size <Ke...@Golux.Com> on 1999/06/17 05:45:12 UTC

[STATUS] (apache-1.3) Wed Jun 16 23:45:11 EDT 1999

  1.3 STATUS:
  Last modified at [$Date: 1999/06/14 19:29:09 $]

Release:

    1.3.7-dev: current.  Ken volunteers to be release manager.

    1.3.6. Tagged and rolled on Mar. 22. Released and announced on 24th.
    1.3.5: Not released.
    1.3.4: Tagged and rolled on Jan. 9.  Released on 11th, announced on 12th.
    1.3.3: Tagged and rolled on Oct. 7.  Released on 9th, announced on 10th.
    1.3.2: Tagged and rolled on Sep. 21. Announced and released on 23rd.
    1.3.1: Tagged and rolled on July 19. Announced and released.
    1.3.0: Tagged and rolled on June 1.  Announced and released on the 6th.
           
    2.0  : In pre-alpha development, see apache-2.0 and apache-apr repository

Binaries (1.3.6):

 Platform                      Avail.  Volunteer
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 alpha-dec-osf3.0              no      Sameer Parekh
 alpha-dec-osf4.0              yes     Lars Eilebrecht
 armv4l-whatever-linux2        yes     Rasmus Lerdorf
 hppa1.1-hp-hpux               no      Rob Hartill
 i386-slackware-linux(a.out)   no      Sameer Parekh
 i386-sun-solaris2.5           no      Sameer Parekh
 i386-sun-solaris2.7           yes     Cliff Skolnick
 i386-unixware-svr4            no      Sameer Parekh
 i386-unknown-freebsd2.1       no      Andrew Wilson, Brian Tao
 i386-unknown-freebsd2.2.8     yes     Jim Jagielski
 i386-whatever-freebsd3.0      yes     Ken Coar
 i386-whatever-freebsd3.0      yes     Dirk-Willem van Gulik
 i686-pc-freebsd3.1            no      Ralf S. Engelschall
 i586-unknown-linux2           yes     Ralf S. Engelschall, Lars Eilebrecht
 i686-unknown-linux2           yes     Lars Eilebrecht
 i386-unknown-linux(ELF)       no      Aram Mirzadeh, Michael Douglass
 i386-unknown-netBSD-1.2.1     N/A     Lars Eilebrecht
 i386-unknown-netBSD-1.3.2     yes      Lars Eilebrecht
 i386-unknown-sco3             no      Ben Laurie
 i386-unknown-sco5             no      Ben Laurie
 i386-sni-svr4                 yes     Martin Kraemer
 m68k-apple-aux3.1.1           no      Jim Jagielski
 m88k-dg-dgux5.4R2.01          no      Sameer parekh
 m88k-next-next                no      Rob Hartill
 mips-sgi-irix5.3              no      Mark Imbrianco
 mips-sgi-irix6.2              yes     Lars Eilebrecht
 mips-sgi-irix6.4              no      Lars Eilebrecht
 mips-sni-svr4                 yes     Martin Kraemer
 OS/2                          yes     Brian Havard
 rs6000-ibm-aix3.2.5           no      Sameer Parekh
 rs6000-ibm-aix4.1             yes     Lars Eilebrecht
 rs6000-ibm-aix4.2             no      Bill Stoddard
 rs6000-ibm-aix4.3.2           no      Bill Stoddard
 sparc-sun-solaris2.5          yes     Lars Eilebrecht
 sparc-sun-solaris2.6          yes     Lars Eilebrecht
 sparc-sun-solaris2.7          yes     Cliff Skolnick
 sparc-sun-sunos4.1.4          yes     Lars Eilebrecht, Michael Douglass
 sparc-sun-sunos4.1.3_U1       no      Sameer Parekh
 sparc-unknown-linux           yes     Lars Eilebrecht
 mips-dec-ultrix4.4            no      Sameer Parekh
 mips-unknown-linux            yes     Lars Eilebrecht


RELEASE SHOWSTOPPERS:

    - Graham Legget has found that if he uses the 1.3.7-dev core, and
      the 1.3.6 proxy code (plus a small patch of his) he doesn't get
      the hangs he was reporting.  Something is broken in the 1.3.7-dev
      proxy.

RELEASE NON-SHOWSTOPPERS BUT WOULD BE REAL NICE TO WRAP THESE UP:

    * mod_rewrite/3874: RewriteLock doesn't work for virtual hosts 
	Status: (Ralf): When I find time, I can look at this.  But
		I would appreciate when someone other already can dive into
		this. My opinion is already appended to the PR. -rse

    * The Vary header field stuff is still broken (multiple
      entries occur, etc.), for instance also in mod_rewrite.
	Status: (Ralf): I've already started to work on this, but
		I've not finished it. I've less time...

    * long pathnames with many components and no AllowOverride None
      Workaround is to define <Directory /> with AllowOverride None,
      which is something all sites should do in any case.
	Status: Marc was looking at it.

Documentation that needs writing:


Available Patches:

    * Stipe Tolj's Cygwin32 port
	PR#: 2936
        Status: Lars +1 (on concept), Martin +1 (on concept)

    * Salvador Ortiz Garcia <so...@msg.com.mx>' patch to allow DirectoryIndex
      to refer to URIs for non-static resources.
	Message-ID: <Pi...@xiomara.msg.com.mx>
	Status: Ken +1 (on concept), Lars +1 (on concept)

    * Ralf's [PATCH] to add EAPI (ctx, hook, mm, etc.) to the base package
	Message-ID: <19...@engelschall.com>
	Status: Jim +1, Mark +1, Dean +1, BenH +1,
		Randy +1 (please choose name other than "hook")
                Doug +1 on concept (untested), Lars +1 on concept,
		Martin +1 (untested),
		Ken -1 for pre-2.0 if it will force a new release of
		mod_perl or mod_php in order to maintain compatibility

    * Tony Finch's patch to support mass virtual hosting
	Message-ID: <E1...@fanf.noc.demon.net>
	Message-ID: <E1...@fanf.noc.demon.net>
	Message-ID: <E1...@fanf.noc.demon.net>
	Status: Dean +1, Randy +1, Jim +1, Lars +1, Martin +1 (untested)
	Previous Status: Dean +1, Randy +1, Jim +1,
	        Lars +1 (if someone writes the docs)

    * Brian Havard's patch to remove dependency of mod_auth_dbm on mod_auth.
      (PR#2598)
	Message-ID: <19...@silk.apana.org.au>
	Status: Lars +1 (on concept), Ken +1 (on concept)

    * Aidan Cully's patch to allow assignment of 'ownership' of resources
      to either the server UID or the file's owner.
	Message-ID: <37...@Golux.Com>
	Status: Ken +1, Dean +1, Randy +1, Lars +0, Jim +1
		(On hold until Aidan submits an update)

    * Keith Wannamaker's NT multiple services patch
	Message-ID: <85...@d54mta06.raleigh.ibm.com>
	Status: Bill +1 (on concept), Lars +1 (on concept)

    * Jun-ichiro itojun Hagino's [PATCH] IPv6 enable patch
      ftp://ftp.kame.net/pub/kame/misc/apache-134-v6-19990118.diff.gz
        Message-ID: <18...@coconut.itojun.org>
        Status: Lars +1 (on concept), Dirkx +1 (tested),
	        Martin +1 (on concept; the patch may need a little cleanup)

    * Jim Patterson's patch to make mod_info work on Win32
        Message-ID: PR#1442
        Status: Lars +1 (on concept)

    * Peter Greis' new '%m' CustomLog option: the time taken to serve the
      request, in milli-seconds.
        Message-ID: PR#2838
        Status: Jim +0 (as is, the patch requires rework since it needs
		to be aware of NO_GETTIMEOFDAY and NO_TIMES as well as
		implement a times() alternative. Not only that, but with
		extended_status, we calculate this anyway).

    * Juan Gallego's patch to add CSH-style modifiers (:h, :r, :t, :e)
      to mod_include's variable processing.
	Mesage-ID: PR#3246, also available at
		   <http://www.physics.mcgill.ca/~juan/mod_include.patch>
	Status: Ken -0 for 1.3/+0 for 2.0, Lars -0 for 1.3
 
   * Eric Prud'hommeaux's mod_dir mods for file-level access control.
        Message-ID: <Pi...@tux.w3.org>
        Status: Jim -0 (The current behavior seems logical to me. If there
		was more universal interest in changing it, then that would be
		a different matter).

    * Eric Prud'hommeaux's mods for practical negotiation with
      file level access control.
        Message-ID: <Pi...@tux.w3.org>
        Status: 

    * Ronald Tschal�r's major update of mod_digest
        Message-ID: <19...@chill.innovation.ch>
        Status: Big change -- needs review.

    * Greg's XML Handling patch
        Message-ID: <37...@lyra.org>
        Message-ID: <37...@lyra.org>
        Status: Greg +1, Martin +1 (on concept)


In progress:

    * Mark Bixby's freshening up the MPE/iX port (mostly APACI)
	Message-ID: <19...@spock.dis.cccd.edu>
        Status: Mark says: "...currently waiting for HP to fix two OS bugs.
		A fix for siglongjmp() is available and has been tested
		successfully by me, but has yet to be included in a
		public patch.  The likely cause of the "EINTR from
		fopen()" bug has been identified, but analysis on how
		to fix it continues."

    * Doug MacEachern's libapr - Generic Apache Request Library (Alpha)
      This package contains modules for manipulating client request data
      via the Apache API with Perl and C.
        Status: http://www.pobox.com/~dougm/libapr-0.20_01.tar.gz

Needs patch:

    * MaxRequestsPerChild doesn't count requests, only the
      number of connections processed.
      We can either 'fix' it by renaming the directive to
      MaxConnectionsPerChild or really fix it to actually count
      the number of requests.
      Lars: I think we should really fix.
      Ken: Definitely fix this, otherwise a massive series of
           requests on the same connection is possible, which
           defeats the purpose.
      Jim: The main idea behind this is to avoid problems with
           memory leaks. So it really doesn't matter which we
	   do, as long as there's a match between the directive
	   and what it does. Since it's easier, I'd say just
	   rename to MaxConnectionsPerChild but keep MaxRequestsPerChild
	   as an "alias" to that (maybe print a short "MaxRequestsPerChild
	   is depreciated" message when Apache starts).

    * get_path_info bug; ap_get_remote_host should be ap_vformatter instead.
      See: <Pi...@twinlark.arctic.org>

    * URI issues
	- RFC2068 requires a server to recognize its own IP addr(s) in dot
	notation, we do this fine if the user follows the dns-caveats
	documentation... we should handle it in the case the user doesn't ever
	supply a dot-notation address.

    * Problems dealing with .-rooted domain names such as "twinlark." versus
	"twinlark.arctic.org.".  See the thread containing
	Message-ID: <19...@deejai.mch.sni.de> for more details.
	In particular this affects the correctness of the proxy and the
	vhost mechanism.

    * proxy_*_canon routines use r->proxyreq incorrectly.  See
	<Pi...@twinlark.arctic.org>

    * work around a Navigator/Mozilla bug when mod_proxy is used
      (broken images).
	Message-ID: <XF...@unix-ag.org>
        Status: Lars' patch was vetoed.  Roy and Dean think that it is
                probably another buffer magic number error and should be
                tested to find out and, if so, fixed like it was in core.
		Dirkx: cannot reproduce this at all.

    * ap_escape_html() always duplicates the string, even when there is
      no change and the caller would be happy to use the original.
      What is needed is a separate interface for "don't need a dup"
      situations, like just about everywhere we use it in bvputs and
      bputs calls.
      dirkx: -1 (as some of the modules from modules.apache.org seem
	(rightly?) to assume that they can modify the returned escaped
	string whilst relying on the passed string not to be damaged.
      Martin: +1 (a "separate interface" is like in the case of
        ap_table_setn() complementing ap_table_set(). It would not
	interfere with any existing code).

    * Should we disallow requests with bogus characters in the method?
      See <Pi...@twinlark.arctic.org>

Open issues:

    * Should we provide a way to force CustomError responses past IE's
      'prettify-if-less-than-N-bytes' bogosity?

    * there are still some PRs about inetd mode
      Should we deprecate "ServerType inetd" if the next release is 1.4.0?
        +1: Lars
	-0: Martin (ISTR someone volunteered to "keep it working". I fear
	    some exotic platforms may require it)

    * general/3787: SERVER_PORT is always 80 if client comes to any port
      => needs review by the protocol guys, I think.

    * Paul would like to see a 'gdbm' option because he uses
      it a lot.
        +1: Greg (volunteers), Martin

    * Many people have asked for a DBM to be distributed with Apache to
      isolate it from platform inconsistencies. SDBM (used by mod_ssl,
      mod_dav, Perl, and others) should fit the bill and is public domain.
        +1: Greg (volunteers), Martin

    * Maybe a http_paths.h file? See
	<Pi...@valis.worldgate.com>
	+1: Brian, Paul, Ralf, Martin, Dirkx
	+0: Jim (not for 1.3.0)

    * Release builds: Should we provide Configuration or not?
      Should we 'make all suexec' in src/support?
	+1: Brian, Jim, Dirkx, Ken +1 (possible suexec path issue, though)

    * root's environment is inherited by the Apache server. Jim & Ken
      think we should recommend using 'env' to build the
      appropriate environment. Marc and Alexei don't see any
      big deal. Martin says that not every "env" has a -u flag. 

    * Marc's socket options like source routing (kill them?)
	Marc, Martin say Yes

    * Ken's PR#1053: an error when accessing a negotiated document
      explicitly names the variant selected.  Should it do so, or should
      the original URI be referenced?
        Martin: keep as is (helps identifying errors. IMO no privacy issue.)

    * Proposed API Changes:

	- r->content_language is for backwards compatibility... with modules
	  that may not link any longer without some minor editing.  The new
	  field is r->content_languages.  Heck it's not even mentioned in
	  apache-devsite/mmn.txt when we got content_languages (note the s!).
	  The proposal is to remove r->content_language:
	    Status: Paul +1, Ralf +1, Ken +1, Martin +1, Dirkx +1 (I could
		not find ANY module which uses it and which (still) compiles
		after the config change.)

	- child_exit() is redundant, it can be implemented via cleanups.  It is
	  not "symmetric" in the sense that there is no exit API method to go
	  along with the init() API method.  There is no need for an exit
	  method, there are already modules using cleanups to perform this (see
	  mod_mmap_static, and mod_php3 for example).  The proposal is to
	  remove the child_exit() method and document cleanups as the method of
	  handling this need.
	    Status: Rasmus +1, Paul +1, Jim +1, 
	            Martin +1, Ralf +1, Ken +1, 
		    Dirkx +1 (with doc change)

    * Should we re-enable nagle now that we're non-buffering CGIs?  See
      various messages from Marc in March 98.
  
    * TZ should not be dealt with specially any longer now that we have
      "PassEnv".  See
      <Pi...@twinlark.arctic.org>
       Jim: IMO it's too late in the game for this... I'm
            sure this would cause some strange bug reports as
	    people's cgi-scripts no longer work correctly
	    ("It worked just fine before I upgraded to 1.3.0")
	    unless we warn people in big nasty letters to add
	    PassEnv TZ to their config files "just in case"
	    and hope they do it :)
       Dirkx: Is not this the same issue about maintaining your 'env' ?

    * In ap_bclose() there's no test that (fb->fd != -1) -- so it's
      possible that it'll do something completely bogus when it's 
      used for read-only things. - Dean Gaudet

    * Roy's HTTP/1.1 Wishlist items:
        1) byte range error handling

    * use of spawnvp in uncompress_child in mod_mime_magic - doesn't
      use the new child_info structure, is this still safe?  Needs to be 
      looked at.

    * suexec doesn't understand argv parameters; e.g.

        <!--#exec cmd="./ls -l" -->

      fails even when "ls" is in the same directory because suexec is trying
      to stat a file called "ls -l".  A patch for this is available at

        http://www.xnet.com/~emarshal/suexec.diff

      and it's not bad except that it doesn't handle programs with spaces in
      the filename (think win32, or samba-mounted filesystems).  There are
      several PR's to this and I don't see for security reasons why we can't
      accomodate it, though it does add complexity to suexec.c.
      PR #1120
      Brian: +1

Win32 specific issues:

 Important

    * fix O(n^2) attack in mod_isapi.c ... i.e. recopy the code from
      scan_script_headers_err_core.

 In progress:

    * Ben's ASP work... All agree it sounds cool.

    * DDA's adding a tray application to the Windoze version for ease of
      status/management.
	<01...@caravan.individual.com>
	<01...@caravan.individual.com>
	Status: Ken +1, Sameer +1, Martin +1, Ben +1 (as long as
		we get a single executable)
	Paul: No like Win95 specific stuff
	Ken: What's W95-specific about it?

 Help:

    * should trap ^C when running not-as-service and do proper shutdown

    * should have a pretty little icon for Apache on Win32
      (Resolved?! there's a tiny feather icon now!?!)

    * proxy module doesn't load on Win95.  Why?  Good question.  PR#1462.
      David Whitmarsh <da...@dial.pipex.com> says it's because
      you can't dynamically load a DLL that uses declspec(thread).  He
      supplied a patch.
	MID: <36...@smtp.dial.pipex.com>
    
    * Proxy cache garbage collection doesn't work. PR#1891

    * chdir() for CGI scripts and mod_include #exec needs to be 
      re-implemented now that CreateProcess is being used.

    * process/thread model
	- need dynamic thread creation/destruction, similar to 
	  Unix process model
	- can't use WaitForMultipleObjects in the same way we
	  do now, since that has a limit of 64(!) objects.  Grr.
	  PR#1665

    * some errors printed by CGIs to stderr don't end up making it
      to the server log unless an extra debugging message is added
      after they run? (PR#1725 indicates this may not be just Win32)

    * handle bugs that make it pop up errors on console, ie. segv 
      equiv?  Can we do this?  Need to make it robust.

    * install
	- make installshield work
	- config in cvs tree?
	- install docs, etc.?
	- location for install

    * the mutex should be critical-regions, since the current design
      is creating a mess of SO calls that are unnecessary

    * we don't mmap on NT.  Use TransmitFile?

    * CGIs
	- docs on how they work w/scripts
	- WTF is the buffering coming from?
	    - we don't have a way to make non-blocking files on NT!

    * performance

    * documentation:
	- running the server without admin
	- how CGIs work
	- update README.NT
	- short/long name handling
	- better status page on current state of NT for users

    * http_main.c hell
	- split into two files?

    * who should run the service?  Who exactly is the "system account"?

      docs say:

      Localsystem is a very privileged account locally, so you shouldn't run
      any shareware applications there. However, it has no network privileges
      and cannot leave the machine via any NT-secured mechanism, including
      file system, named pipes, DCOM, or secure RPC.

      and:

      A service that runs in the context of the LocalSystem account
      inherits the security context of the SCM. It is not associated with
      any logged-on user account and does not have credentials (domain
      name, user name, and password) to be used for verification. This
      has several implications: [... removed ...]


      That _really_ sucks.  Can we recommend running Apache as some 
      other user?

    * modules that need to be made to work on win32
        - mod_example isn't multithreadreded
	- mod_unique_id (needs mt changes)
	- mod_auth_db.c  (do we want to even try this?  We should have some
          db of some sort... what else can we pick from under win32?)
	- mod_auth_dbm.c
	- mod_info.c (PR#1442 re exporting symbols for it...)
	- mod_log_agent.c
	- mod_log_referer.c
	- mod_mime_magic.c (needs access to mod_mime API stage...)

    * do something to disable bogus warnings

    * rfc1413.c has static storage which won't work multithreaded

    * mod_include --> exec cgi, exec cmd, etc. don't work right.
      Looks like a code path that isn't run anywhere else that has
      something not quite right...  A PR or two on it.

    * signal type handling
    	- how to rotate logs from command line?
	  (Point people to Andrew Ford's cronolog because it's "better"
	   than ours?)

    * Currently if you double click on the conf files or the
      log files you get a useless dialog offering the set of all
      executables, usually after a very long pause.  Ought
      to stuff .conf in the registry mapping it to text.

    * apparently either "BrowserMatch" or the "nokeepalive" variable
      cause instability - see PR#1729.