In this issue

Two issues with Apache 2.0 on Windows received discussion this week - firstly, problems were found trying to run the latest beta as a service on Windows 2000. No resolution has yet been found for the issue. Next, a problem with running CGI scripts was discovered, where sometimes a console window is opened when a CGI script is executed; some possible fixes were discussed.

A new directive, AcceptPathInfo, was added to 2.0, which allows the administrator to control whether an Apache module implemented as a filter can still be activated when a URI is used with trailing path information. For instance when using the PHP 4 filter module, a script called /php/script.php could be invoked when a request with the URI /php/script.php/foo/bar is received, if AcceptPathInfo is enabled in the /php/ context.

Government Technology magazine report World Governments Choosing Linux for National Security. "Security experts tend to agree that computers are less prone to hacking and viruses when running open-source software like Linux or the Web server Apache."

Red Hat's Matthew Szulik prepared testimony for the Judiciary Committee of the US Senate regarding the Microsoft settlement. "The growth of the Linux operating system is an example of [open source] acceptance. The Apache web server is another, it now holds a market-leading position. However, the Internet browser, desktop operating system and office productivity software are areas that have continued to be influenced by one vendor alone."

Debian Weekly News covers a discussion about whether Apache should belong in non-free. The Apache license says that the names "Apache Server" and "Apache Group" must not be used to endorse or promote products derived from the Apache software without prior written permission. However, Debian along with other vendors modify several files, so these resultant packages could be considered as a derivative work.

Covalent this week launched an Apache 2.0 zone, with reposts of their articles on Apache 2.0 topics as well as discussion forums.

In this section we highlight some of the articles on the web that are of interest to Apache users.

Kevin Hemenway unravels the mystery of the built-in Apache web server that comes with Mac OS X in his first article of a new series about serving web pages from a Mac. You'll learn how to start up Apache, access your personal home page, locate Apache's DocumentRoot, and customise the default web page. This is just the appetiser - there are more to come in the next installment when Kevin gets down to the crux of maintaining a full-fledged web site.

"A Feather in Your NT Cap" persuades users running Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS) on Windows NT to migrate to Apache on NT. It lists the three limitations of Apache's ISAPI implementation, describes two main ways of installation, gives an overview of the configuration, and shows you how to start Apache as an NT service.

This tutorial, "Give me back my MySQL Command Line!" creates a Web-based MySQL command line using PHP. The simple web form allows users to enter SQL queries into a text box, select the target database from a drop-down list, and submit the query by clicking a submit button. The result set is then displayed in a table. The full PHP script is provided but before you set it up, you have to consider the security issues as warned by the author.