In this issue

The Apache Group is organising the first ever conference dedicated to Apache, which will be held in San Francisco this October. The conference, called "ApacheCon 98", is aimed at both Apache developers and Apache users. The tracks planned for the conference include:

• Dynamic Content, covering Perl, PHP, jserv (Java servlets) and Javascript modules, plus CGI and other programming issues.
• Performance tuning, for getting the most out of the Apache server through Apache and Operating System configuration.
• Security, covering Apache and OS security as well as online commerce security issues.
• Strategy and Case Studies, showing how Apache is being used for real applications such as e-commerce and database connectivity.

The conference will also feature a trade show, and give participants the opportunity to meet some of the main Apache developers. This all happens between October 14th and 16th at the San Francisco Hilton.

For more information, see www.apachecon.com. As well as attending, there are opportunities to exhibit at the trade show, become a sponsor, or submit a paper to be presented.

Apache 1.3.1 has been released, and is available as both source files for Unix, and a pre-compiled installable .EXE file for Windows. On Unix, this release fixes a few bugs, mostly related to portability to various operating systems. On Windows, this marks the first pre-compiled version since 1.3b7, which did not work with CGI programs. It also fixes a number of security problems with previous Windows releases. All Windows users of Apache should upgrade immediately, however on Windows Apache should still be regarded as a beta.

Apache Site: www.apache.org
Release: 1.3.1 (Released 22^nd July 1998) (local download sites)
Beta: None

Apache 1.3.1 is the current stable release. Users of Apache 1.2.6 and earlier should look at upgrading to this version, which provides additional features and has been subject to extensive testing.

The bugs listed below now include a link to the entry in the Apache bug database where the problem is being tracked. These entries are called "PR"s (Problem Reports). Some bugs do not correspond to problem reports if they are found by developers.

These bugs have been found in 1.3.1 and will be fixed in the next version.

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

• The fsize and flastmod SSI directives may not work. PR#2355.

Other Bugs

• If mod_rewrite is being used to pick a response based on headers in the request, the response should contain a Vary header so that proxy-caches can properly cache the response. Apache was not doing this. PR#1644.
• If the incoming request contained an URI that was too long for Apache, or contained some types of malformed header fields, Apache would not send back a proper error response (but it would log the request correctly). PR#2646.
• Multiple Listen directives do not work on OS/2

Patches for bugs in Apache 1.3.1 will be made available in the apply_to_1.3.1 subdirectory of the patches directory on the Apache site. Some new features and other unofficial patches are available in the 1.3 patches directory. 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.

This new section contains short announcements of jobs which require significant Apache experience. If you have an suitable job announcement, send the text or HTML (less that hundred words plus a URL) to editors@apacheweek.com. We reserve the right to refuse any announcement.

The STA/ISIS unit at the Joint Research Center of the European Commission (JRC) is an internet expertize group which builds bespoke internet installations; (E.g. EWSE, CILS, GELOS or PEN). We need network, internet and web engineers for a new project (ETTN) who are fluent in UNIX, Perl, Apache and English. Know about PHP, SQL, Java, Javascript, SNMP, SSL, Digital Certificates and TCP/IP routing. 1 to 4 years. Good pay; exempt from most taxes. Relocation assistance and housing in campus-like environment possible. Beautiful countryside, North Italy, towards Swiss alps, shore of Lago Maggiore. One hour from Milano. Mail Dirk.vanGulik@jrc.it for more information.

Workfire Technologies Corporation has an opening for a Senior Software Engineer to develop a system of modified Apache proxy servers for various Windows and Unix platforms. A sound knowledge of the Apache architecture and experience with the Apache 1.3.x code is highly desirable. There will be a strong focus on using HTTP/1.1 and other protocol advancements to make Internet communication more efficient. For a more general description of this position, see www.workfire.com/post4.htm.