mod_cgi/8237: Wrong error reported for improperly written #! in perl CGI scripts

[Sebastian Wells <al...@negaverse.org>]

>Number:         8237
>Category:       mod_cgi
>Synopsis:       Wrong error reported for improperly written #! in perl CGI scripts
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       non-critical
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    apache
>State:          open
>Quarter:        
>Keywords:       
>Date-Required:
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   apache
>Arrival-Date:   Sun Aug 26 05:40:00 PDT 2001
>Closed-Date:
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     alterego@negaverse.org
>Release:        1.3 Win32
>Organization:
apache
>Environment:
Windows 2000 (probably affects other win32) 1.3 (probably affects other versions) precompiled binary from .msi installer (may affect others)
>Description:
After much searching of the reported bugs I have come to the conclusion that the error generated in Apache for win32 upon encoutering an improperly written shebang in a perl script is the wrong error.  The error recieved from this situation is "could not spawn child process".  After a bit of reading it seems that on any *nix platform this error is the result of a lack of available memory, or a fucked up fork().  However under win32 this error is generated if the perl interpreter is not found at the address specified.
>How-To-Repeat:
Give the wrong address for the perl interpreter in the #! line of a perl CGI script.
>Fix:
Maybe add an error like "Script interpreter not found" or some such error that would actually alert the server operator of what has happened, rather than sending her/him on a wild goose chase trying to track down the faulty child process nonsense.
>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:
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