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Posted to apache-bugdb@apache.org by Alistair Brown <al...@btinternet.com> on 2000/11/21 20:57:27 UTC
mod_perl/6877: fork in perl cgi script creates an extra server process

>Number:         6877
>Category:       mod_perl
>Synopsis:       fork in perl cgi script creates an extra server process
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       non-critical
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    apache
>State:          open
>Quarter:        
>Keywords:       
>Date-Required:
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   apache
>Arrival-Date:   Tue Nov 21 12:00:01 PST 2000
>Closed-Date:
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     alistair.d.brown@btinternet.com
>Release:        1.3.4 (Unix)
>Organization:
apache
>Environment:
Suse Linux 6.1 using kernel 2.2.5#1 (Apache binaries installed as part of the distribution).  If you would like more specific information then let me know.
>Description:
Creating a Perl cgi script which does a fork causes an extra server process to be created every time that script is executed.  (Up to about 250 on my system, although MaxClients is set to 150).  However, this only occurs if the following lines are in the httpd.conf file (as they were by default):

# enable perl for cgi-bin
#

<Location /cgi-bin>
AddHandler perl-script .pl
PerlHandler Apache::Registry
PerlSendHeader On
Options +ExecCGI
</Location>

If those lines are commented out then my perl scripts still execute, but any server processes that are created terminate when my script terminates.
>How-To-Repeat:
Example (trivial) perl script:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
$| = 1;
print "Content-type: text/html\n\n<html></html>";
close STDOUT;
if(fork)
{
   exit;
}
else
{
   close STDOUT;
   exit;
}

Install the script in the cgi-bin directory or sub-directory and execute from a web browser.  If the lines shown above are in the httpd.conf file an extra process should be created each time the script is run.
>Fix:
I am not entirely sure why the lines shown above are required in the httpd.conf file exist if perl scripts work with them omitted.
>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted:
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