Release: 1.1.3 (Released 14th January 1997)
Beta: 1.2b6 (Released 26th January 1997)
Bugs reported in 1.2b6:
-
Apparent slow performance of CGI scripts, relative to
1.2b4.
Bugs fixed in next release:
-
Core dump in some circumstances if a bad directive exists
in a .htaccess file
-
Now allows redirects when the URL is missing a trailing /
to be cached on the browser.
-
Updates for A/UX and SCO3, added HI-UX support
-
When a CGI issues an internal redirect on a PUT or POST
request, Apache tries to read the request body a second
time.
Patches to fix some Apache 1.2b6 bugs are available in the 1.2b6
patches directory on the Apache site. More notes on the
FIN_WAIT_2 problem are also available.
Apache is currently in a 'beta release' cycle. This is where
it is made available prior to full release for testing by
anyone interested. Normally during the beta cycle no new
major features will be added. The full release of Apache 1.2
is expected in February.
Last
week we reported that current versions of Netscape
Navigator (including 4.0 beta) cannot understand HTTP/1.1
multipart responses. This sort of response occurs when the
browser results parts of a document, instead of a whole
document. The Adobe Acrobat plug-in makes use of this feature
to selectively get parts of the PDF file. Navigator is using
a slightly outdated method of requesting and using
byteranges: to sends a "Request-Range" header, and looks for
"x-byteranges" on the response. This was used before the
HTTP/1.1 specification decided on the current scheme (which
is to send a "Range" header, and use "byteranges" in the
response).
Fortunately, because Netscape Navigator sends a request which
is clearly identifiable (containing the "Request-Range"
header) Apache can be updated to look for this header and
send the appropriate response. Netscape will use the new
HTTP/1.1 format from the next beta of Navigator 4.
Further investigation has revealed that Microsoft Internet
Explorer also cannot handle HTTP/1.1 format multipart
responses. But unlike Navigator, it does not send the
"Request-Range" header. This means that Apache does not send
back a reply that MSIE can understand. The only way it could
be done is by looking at the user-agent header to see if the
client is MSIE of the appropriate version, and sending the
correct response. Microsoft will be fixing the problem in
Internet Explorer version 4.
Creating and managing user authentication details normally
involves using a tool such as dbmmanage. However this program
is limited and it does not provide a Web interface. A new
tool is available, unconnected with the Apache project, which
provides a web interface to user administration. It allows
users to change their passwords, and can be used by the
administrator to add, modify and delete users and their
groups. It can also be run from the command line to replace
dbmmanage. It is called "change_password".
Full instructions and download information are available
on the author's pages. The program is free.