handling of the trailing slash

[kris nelson <kr...@eskimo.com>]

Apache/1.3.26 + mod_perl/1.27

I've noticed that Apache alone appears to differ from one of my modules
running under mod_perl in its handling of trailing slashes. I'm wondering if
this is expected behavior and, if so, why? (Maybe this is obvious...)

For example: the file "news.html" exists in "/var/www/html/". I issue four
requests to Apache alone, one for "/news.html", one for "/news", one for
"/news/" and one for "/news.html/", and then the same four requests again,
this time under mod_perl.

The second time, under mod_perl, I use a basic little module that simply
records the value of $r->filename to the error log and then sends the
contents of the file to the browser (after opening it with Apache::File,
similar to the Ch. 4 Eagle book instructions). (No directory called
"/var/www/html//news" exists, nor are there any symlinks involved.)

Here's a table of the results:

Apache
-------
/news.html	/news	/news/	/news.html/
200		200	404	404

200 means success, data displayed was from "news.html". The error log showed
that "/news.html/" was not found in the case of the 404s.

Apache+mod_perl
---------------
/news.html	/news	/news/	/news.html/
200		200	200	200

200 means success, data displayed was from "news.html", error_log recorded
"/var/www/html/news.html" in all cases as the value of $r->filename (thanks
to my little Perl module logging this value for me). In the cases of
"/news/" and "/news.html/", my relative image links broke (for hopefully
obvious reasons).

Is this expected behavior? Why? I would expect Apache and Apache+mod_perl to
behave similarly. Am I missing something obvious? (Probably...)

Thanks,
Kris

P.S. Just for kicks, I tried a similar set of four URLs at stonehenge.com,
and they all displayed the same data (of course, I don't run that server, I
just happen to read Randal Schwartz's columns...):

http://www.stonehenge.com/perltraining/instructors.html
http://www.stonehenge.com/perltraining/instructors
http://www.stonehenge.com/perltraining/instructor/
http://www.stonehenge.com/perltraining/instructors.html/


-- 
kristopher nelson

Re: handling of the trailing slash

[Stas Bekman <st...@stason.org>]

kris nelson wrote:
> Apache/1.3.26 + mod_perl/1.27
> 
> I've noticed that Apache alone appears to differ from one of my modules
> running under mod_perl in its handling of trailing slashes. I'm wondering if
> this is expected behavior and, if so, why? (Maybe this is obvious...)
> 
> For example: the file "news.html" exists in "/var/www/html/". I issue four
> requests to Apache alone, one for "/news.html", one for "/news", one for
> "/news/" and one for "/news.html/", and then the same four requests again,
> this time under mod_perl.
> 
> The second time, under mod_perl, I use a basic little module that simply
> records the value of $r->filename to the error log and then sends the
> contents of the file to the browser (after opening it with Apache::File,
> similar to the Ch. 4 Eagle book instructions). (No directory called
> "/var/www/html//news" exists, nor are there any symlinks involved.)
> 
> Here's a table of the results:
> 
> Apache
> -------
> /news.html	/news	/news/	/news.html/
> 200		200	404	404
> 
> 200 means success, data displayed was from "news.html". The error log showed
> that "/news.html/" was not found in the case of the 404s.
> 
> Apache+mod_perl
> ---------------
> /news.html	/news	/news/	/news.html/
> 200		200	200	200
> 
> 200 means success, data displayed was from "news.html", error_log recorded
> "/var/www/html/news.html" in all cases as the value of $r->filename (thanks
> to my little Perl module logging this value for me). In the cases of
> "/news/" and "/news.html/", my relative image links broke (for hopefully
> obvious reasons).
> 
> Is this expected behavior? Why? I would expect Apache and Apache+mod_perl to
> behave similarly. Am I missing something obvious? (Probably...)

It's hard to guess what your relevant configuration is. Care to send in the 
mod_perl and Apache sections? Including things like Multiviews Options, 
DirectoryIndex, etc.

Basically it all comes to the following logic: mod_perl sections inherit all 
the default Apache settings unless you've overriden them. And this is true for 
any other module, be it mod_perl or not.


__________________________________________________________________
Stas Bekman            JAm_pH ------> Just Another mod_perl Hacker
http://stason.org/     mod_perl Guide ---> http://perl.apache.org
mailto:stas@stason.org http://use.perl.org http://apacheweek.com
http://modperlbook.org http://apache.org   http://ticketmaster.com

Re: handling of the trailing slash

["Randal L. Schwartz" <me...@stonehenge.com>]

>>>>> "kris" == kris nelson <kr...@eskimo.com> writes:

kris> I've noticed that Apache alone appears to differ from one of my
kris> modules running under mod_perl in its handling of trailing
kris> slashes. I'm wondering if this is expected behavior and, if so,
kris> why? (Maybe this is obvious...)

Yes, expected.  mod_core gets upset if there are characters in
PATH_INFO trailing the filename.  But mod_cgi doesn't care, nor does
mod_perl's Apache::Registry.  If you write your own handler, you can
return errors for data in PATH_INFO.  It's up to you.  You didn't say
what handler you were using (hint: "mod_perl" is never specific enough
:).

-- 
Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095
<me...@stonehenge.com> <URL:http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/>
Perl/Unix/security consulting, Technical writing, Comedy, etc. etc.
See PerlTraining.Stonehenge.com for onsite and open-enrollment Perl training!