In this issue

Apache Site: www.apache.org
Release: 1.3.4 (Released 11^th January 1999) (local download sites)
Beta: None

Apache 1.3.4 is the current stable release. Users of Apache 1.3.3 and earlier should look at upgrading to this version. Read the Guide to 1.3.4 for information about changes between 1.3.3 and 1.3.4 and between 1.2 and 1.3.4.

These bugs have been found in 1.3.4 and will be fixed in the next release.

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

• Requests for filenames containing non-ASCII characters such as accented characters gives a "Forbidden" error. PR#3890.

Patches for bugs in Apache 1.3.4 will be made available in the apply_to_1.3.4 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.

The next release of Apache will allow for conditional logging. This is where requests are only logged if they meet particular conditions. For example, all image files could be excluded from the log file, or only requests which went through the proxy could be logged. Combined with the ability to have multiple log files this will allow for greater flexibility in the creation of logs.

The decision about whether to log a particular request to a particular log file is made based in whether an environment variable is set. This is configured with a env=VAR or env=!VAR clause at the end of the CustomLog directive. If env=VAR is given, then the request is logged only if VAR is set. If env=!VAR is given, then the request is logged only if VAR is not set.

Environment variables can be set using the SetEnvIf directive (from mod_setenvif), or using the rewrite rules in mod_rewrite. The former is simpler to use, and the latter allows greater flexibility.

For example, the following code puts all requests for files ending in .gif into a separate log file:

  SetEnvIf Request_URI \.gif$ gif-image
  CustomLog gif-requests.log common env=gif-image
  CustomLog nongif-requests.log common env=!gif-image

If the middle line is ommitted then .gif files are not logged at all.

In addition, the RefererIgnore directive is now implemented in mod_log_config, so there is no need to use either of the special case modules mod_log_agent or mod_log_referer.

Apache will be represented at a event in London called The Alternative Highway - Open Source Software. It also includes a keynote speech by Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation and GNU Project.