In this issue

Apache Site: www.apache.org
Release: 1.3.9 (Released 20^th August 1999) (local download sites)
Beta: None

Apache 1.3.9 is the current stable release. Users of Apache 1.3.6 and earlier on Unix systems should upgrade to this version. Users of Apache on Windows can now upgrade to Apache 1.3.9 avoiding the previous problems with Apache 1.3.6. Read the Guide to 1.3.9 for information about changes between 1.3.6 and 1.3.9.

Most bugs listed below 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.

A large number of patches have been made to the 1.3.9 code over the last couple of weeks in preparation for a 1.3.10 release in the future. There is no release date set for 1.3.10 but it is unlikely to be until the new year.

• There are a number of problems with Apache on EBCDIC based platforms. These include problems with regular expression testing of character ranges, encoding problems for URL's in directory listings, and problems with byte ranges failing (which particularly affects the Adobe Acrobat reader).
• OS/2 updates have been made to give the name of the DLL when dynamic loading fails and to pass on some useful environment variables to CGI scripts.
• There are problems with the build environment of Apache including failures in APACI when a platform isn't recognised (PR#5303), the stripping of trailing slashes from directory names (PR#5291), the correction to a previous patch to locate "awk" (PR#5304), and portability fixes for SunOS (PR#5230).
• The variable name "template" was used in an Apache header file causing problems with C++ compilers on SunOS4. PR#5363.
• The new support for quad integers was creating incorrect code. PR#5231
• The original digest authentication module, mod_auth_digest did not check correctly that the random device was being opened. PR#5292
• Shared Library support on HPUX was broken. Although a fix had been committed to Apache 1.3.6 it was lost in Apache 1.3.9. PR#4974
• Apache does not compile on OpenStep due to the addition of an undefined type. PR#4906
• The Perl dbmmanage script appears to run successfully even if it fails to open the DBM file. PR#4973

Patches for bugs in Apache 1.3.9 will be made available in the apply_to_1.3.9 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.

A number of small feature additions have been made which will appear in Apache 1.3.10 when it is released.

• The demonstration script printenv, used to display all environment variables passed to a CGI program, has been updated.
• Support for Berkeley-DB/3 has been added to the mod_auth_db module.
• A new option, FoldersFirst, has been added to the IndexOptions directive. This causes subdirectories to always appear before other files in a FancyIndexed directory listing.
• A new option, DescriptionWidth, has been added to the IndexOptions directive. This allows the default width given for descriptions in a FancyIndexed directory listing to be changed.

The second official Apache conference, ApacheCon 2000, takes place March 8th-10th 2000 in Orlando, Florida. Apache Week is a sponsor of ApacheCon 2000 and will keep you updated on conference news between now and March.

You can now register on-line for ApacheCon 2000 using a credit card and a secure web browser. By registering for the conference early, ApacheCon are offering a discount of US$225 off the full conference price.

The Industry Standard rates Apache as a top 10 Internet Company in their article 10 companies that will make the Web grow. It is encouraging to see Apache rated amongst well known companies including Apple, IBM, and Intel especially as the list contains no other open source companies. They also comment on Apache's recent inroads into e-commerce, its increasingly wide-spread acceptance in the enterprise, and the gain of a mysterious 22 "employees".

New editions of the two popular server surveys were released this week. The Netcraft survey shows Apache gaining market share again, with the total share for Apache-based servers just under 60%. A similar survey from E-Soft gives similar results, with Apache-based servers at 55% for standard HTTP sites, but at a staggering 79% for secure sites.

Recent Apache Week stories have focussed on a number of Microsoft sites that use Apache instead of IIS. These include the Hotmail service and the Microsoft Networks' homepage service. Ironically, this week we have to report the reverse after finding that the secure online registration form for ApacheCon 2000 is running Microsoft IIS 4. But there is a good excuse; registration is being handled by an outside agency.