In this issue

Apache Site: www.apache.org
Release: 1.2.4 (Released 22nd August 1997) (local download sites)
Beta: None
Alpha: 1.3a1 (Released 23rd July 1997) (local download sites)

• There is a problem reported on Linux where a child can get stuck in a loop, continually reporting select errors.
• Inetd mode uses timeouts without correctly setting them up. Inetd mode should always be avoided.

Bugs fixed in 1.3:

• Apache did not recognise all possible redirect HTTP status codes on CGI used in server-side include documents. It previously only recognised temporary redirects.
• The RedirectMatch directive was not properly escaping it's result
• The directory indexing module, mod_autoindex, now handles descriptions containing entity names (like &lt; to display the < character) correctly. It has also been fixed to improve handling of truncating descriptions that are too long to display.
• The imagemap module, mod_imap, now ignores methods other than GET. This allows other actions such as PUT to be handled by other modules.
• The server-side includes module, mod_include, would fail when parsing certain expressions using && and || operators.

Apache 1.2.4 is the current stable release. Users of Apache 1.2.3 and earlier should upgrade to this version. The next release will be 1.3. The first beta of 1.3 will be available around the first week of October. An alpha test release of 1.3 is available now for compilation and testing on Windows 95 and compilation and testing on Windows 95 and NT systems.

Patches for bugs in Apache 1.2.4 may be made available in the apply to 1.2.4 directory on the Apache site. Some new features and other unofficial patches are available in the 1.2 patches directory. For details of all previously reported bugs, see the Apache bug database and known bugs pages. Also many common configuration questions are answered in the Apache FAQ.

Development has slowed down over the last week to prepare for the release of Apache 1.3b1. This release is expected around the first week of October.

ZD Internet Magazine has a brief review of Apache 1.2 together with a comparison between six Web servers including three running on NT in the article Look Who's Serving the Web. Apache does not come out well in their survey, and suprisingly the NT servers are recommended for sites where performance matters. The 11th July 1997 issue of Apache Week gives hints for tuning Apache to get the best performance for busy sites.

In another ZDNet story, Apache is praised as The World's Cheapest Web Server. The World's Most Popular Web Server. (Psst! It's the Same One!). This article mentions that one of the reasons Webmasters choose Apache is that it is scalable and used by many of the world's biggest and most demanding Web sites.