In this issue

Apache Site: www.apache.org
Release: 1.2.6 (Released 24^th March 1998) (local download sites)
Beta: 1.3b6 (Released 20^th April 1998) (local download sites)

Apache 1.2.6 is the current stable release. Users of Apache 1.2.5 and earlier should upgrade to this version since it fixes a number of bugs and potential security problems.

These bugs have been found in 1.3 and will be fixed in the next beta (1.3b6)

Because of the major differences between Windows and Unix, these are separated into bugs which affect Windows systems only, and other bugs (which may affect Windows as well). Unix users can ignore the bugs listed in the Windows section.

Windows-specific Bugs

• On NT, Apache does not recognise .cmd extension as equivalent to .bat.

Other Bugs

• Apache may not build on Solaris if Sun's version of awk is being used.
• In some error messages the system error is not relevant, but is still reported as "error(0)".

Patches for bugs in Apache 1.2.6 may be made available in the apply_to_1.2.6 subdirectory of the patches directory on the Apache site (this directory may not exist if no patches are available). Some new features and other unofficial patches are available in the 1.2 patches directory (these may not apply cleanly to 1.2.6). For details of all previously reported bugs, see the Apache bug database and known bugs pages. Many common configuration questions are answered in the Apache FAQ.

Development has slowed down to prepare for the release of Apache 1.3. During the beta release cycle Apache is in a "feature freeze" where no major new features will be added.

There have been several changes to the new configure program. These are mainly minor portability and bug fixes for various systems.

The main new feature is the ability to specify one directory as the install directory, but to actually install the files into another directory. This can be used by "package" maintainers who are building Apache for installation on a different system. This is used like this:

  ./configure --prefix=/usr/local ...
  make
  make install root=/tmp/apache-root

In this case, Apache is configured ready to be installed into /usr/local, but the make install process actually places the files into /tmp/apache-root. The package builder would use the files from the location, but specify that the package is to be installed into /usr/local on the target machine.

Some new options have also been added to provide even more control over the installation directories. These are --runtimedir, --logfiledir and --proxycachedir which specific respectively the directory for holding the PID files, the logs directory, and the cache directory for use by the proxy module. In most cases these are not needed, since appropriate locations are provided by default (either "autoconf" style directories, or with --compat, directories compatible with previous Apache releases).

The next beta will extend support for dynamic loading of modules to NetBSD and AIX systems. This brings the list of operating systems which support dynamic modules to: Linux, IRIX FreeBSD, HPUX OpenBSD, OSF1 SunOS, UnixWare, Solaris, AIX and Windows.

Pre-compiled versions of Apache 1.3b6 are now available for OS/2 and NT on DEC Alpha. They can be downloaded from any download site, under binaries/os2 or binaries/decalphaNT.

Fast Company, an online magazine covering new business methods, reports extensively on Apache in The Best Things in Life Are Free. Looking at the business model behind Apache, the article identifies two lessons: charging less gives you more input from users, and that there is more to value than direct financial income.

ZDNet's Anchor Desk reports on Your ISP: Behind the Scenes. They list five results from a survey of 2000 US ISP companies. These include the fact that most ISPs build their own systems, use Unix, and use Apache.