*BSD News Article 79245


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From: fred@lightside.net (Fred Condo)
Newsgroups: comp.infosystems.www.servers.unix,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Apache 1.1.1 Dumping Core
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 01:27:57 -0700
Organization: Lightside, Inc. - Internet Access
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In article <dlt-2309960726280001@news.csun.edu>, dlt@csun.edu (David
Thompson) wrote:

>I'm seeing a LOT of these messages in my error_log.  Should I be concerned?
>
>[Mon Sep 23 07:19:24 1996] httpd: caught SIGSEGV, dumping core
>[Mon Sep 23 07:19:31 1996] httpd: caught SIGSEGV, dumping core
>[Mon Sep 23 07:19:31 1996] httpd: caught SIGSEGV, dumping core

Yes! This problem occurs when you have "too many" Virtual Hosts. "Too
many" seems to depend on random variables: one FreeBSD machine I know
cannot run even a single Virtual Host without dropping SIGSEGV on every
hit. Another machine I know can run 7 Virtual Hosts without problems, but
adding an 8th causes some, but not all, of the Virtual Hosts to drop a
SIGSEGV.

Every time you see one of those error messages, the person browsing got
"Document contains no data," so this bug is Web death.

I have a report that the same problem occurs under BSDI (I have been
working with FreeBSD). This suggests the problem is an interaction between
Apache and the BSD network code base. Interestingly, I have never seen
this problem on SysVR2-based A/UX.

This is a critical problem, and I am disheartened that my previous posts
about it have been ignored. I think the FreeBSD and Apache people need to
talk with each other.
-- 
http://www.lightside.net/~fred/ + net access + http://www.lightside.net/
"Attempts to control the use of encryption technology are wrong in
principle, unworkable in practice, and damaging to the long term economic
value of the information networks." - UK Labour Party