general/5198: Perl's system() calls hang Apache 1.3.9

[Michael Caines <mc...@csr-online.com>]

>Number:         5198
>Category:       general
>Synopsis:       Perl's system() calls hang Apache 1.3.9
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       serious
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    apache
>State:          open
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   apache
>Arrival-Date:   Tue Oct 26 10:50:01 PDT 1999
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     mcaines@csr-online.com
>Organization:
apache
>Release:        1.3.9
>Environment:
Windows 95, using the Apache 1.3.9 Win32 build from your site.
>Description:
Through CGI, while trying to execute a Perl command such as:
system "del myfile.txt";
Apache 1.3.9 hangs and my browser spins its wheels forever.  Other CGI/Perl
scripts work fine for me under Apache.  Also, once this happens, issuing
"apache -k shutdown" no longer closes my Apache console window--I have to
kill it manually.

I can execute Perl scripts at the command line on my machine, and the "system"
calls execute normally--I only run into trouble when I try to do the same thing
through CGI under Apache 1.3.9.  I'm using ActiveState Perl (build 520).

This is my first experience with Apache, so I can't comment on the behavior in
previous versions of Apache.  Also, I believe that someone would have reported
this already, but I was unable to find it in the bug database.
>How-To-Repeat:
Just run any Perl script through CGI under Apache 1.3.9 Win32 with a line like:
system "del testfile";

It works if you run it at the command line, but fails when invoked via CGI.
>Fix:
A temp fix for deleting files is to use Perl's "unlink" command in your CGI
scripts.  However, this doesn't help for system commands other than "del".
>Audit-Trail:
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