In this issue

If you've not yet entered then you still have a few days with the chance to win one of four copies of the books "Apache Pocket Reference" and "HTTP Pocket Reference". Send your answer to the following question to warriorprincess@apacheweek.com to reach us no later than August 15th 2000.

Which one of the following is not an Apache-XML project
A) Xerces, B) Xalan, or C) Xena

Your e-mail address will not be used for anything other than to let you know if you won. Four winners will be drawn at random from all correct entries submitted, one entry per person, no cash alternative, editors' decision is final, so there.

C|Net report on Apache 2.0 in "Apache Web software on verge of major revision". The article interviews a few of the current Apache developers and highlights some of the advantages that version 2.0 will bring. They quote that "The final version should be out by the end of the year".

Slashdot comments on the tongue-in-cheek Smutcraft survey, a site which measures the popularity of servers powering sex sites. Apache comes out ahead with the Slashdot comment " the apparently-unscientific SmutCraft survey reveals that Apache has excellent market penetration". Ryan Bloom, one of the Apache 2.0 developers, told attendees at his talk in Monterey last month that a good test of a web server, and Apache in general, was the traffic generated by this type of site.

Apache Site: www.apache.org/httpd
Release: 1.3.12 (Released 25^th February 2000) (local download sites)
Beta: None
Alpha: 2.0a4 (Released 7^th June 2000) (local download sites)

Apache 1.3.12 is the current stable release. Users of Apache 1.3.11 and earlier on Unix and Windows systems should upgrade to this version. Read the Guide to 1.3.12, the Guide to 1.3.11 for information about changes between 1.3.9 and 1.3.11 and the Guide to 1.3.9 for information about changes between 1.3.6 and 1.3.9.

A number of additions and fixes have been made to Apache 1.3.12 with a view to releasing Apache 1.3.13 sometime in August.

Apache 2.0 alpha 5 was released last week, with C|Net highlighting it as potentially the last alpha version. A number of Apache developers are meeting today in San Francisco to work together on the design and implementation of a missing piece of the Apache 2.0 puzzle; filtering. Once filtering is in place modules will be able to co-operate and then for example a page dynamically generated by mod_perl could be then passed through mod_php before being returned. The filtering functionality is also important for adding SSL to Apache 2.

In this section we highlight some of the latest articles on the web that are of interest to Apache users.

Ken Coar gives a comprehensive guide to "Building PHP as an Apache Module". Ken covers building as a CGI, and as both a static and dynamic Apache module. Rich Bowen concludes his series on authentication with a look at using MySQL with mod_auth_mysql in Apache Today.

Every day at Apache Week we receive many requests to help with individual Apache problems. Whilst we can't respond to every request we are interested to hear about particular problems you are having with Apache so that we can write about the things that more commonly occur. We are equally interested in any success stories you might want to share, how you came across pit falls and what you did to solve them. Mail the editors at editors@apacheweek.com.

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