| OVERVIEW OF NEW FEATURES IN APACHE 1.2 |
| |
| New features with this release, as extensions of the Apache functionality |
| For more information, see the documentation included with this release |
| (htdocs/manual/) or http://www.apache.org/docs/ |
| |
| In addition to a number of bug fixes and internal performance |
| enhancements, Apache 1.2 has the following specific new user |
| features: |
| |
| |
| *) HTTP/1.1 Compliance |
| Aside from the optional proxy module (which operates as HTTP/1.0), |
| Apache is conditionally compliant with the HTTP/1.1 proposed standard, |
| as approved by the IESG and the IETF HTTP working group. |
| HTTP/1.1 provides a much-improved protocol, and should allow for |
| greater performance and efficiency when transferring files. Apache |
| does, however, still work great with HTTP/1.0 browsers. We are very |
| close to being unconditionally compliant; if you note any deviance |
| from the proposed standard, please report it as a bug. |
| |
| *) eXtended Server Side Includes (XSSI) |
| A new set of server-side include directives allows the user to |
| better create WWW pages. This includes number of powerful new |
| features, such as the ability to set variables and use conditional |
| HTML. |
| |
| *) File-based and Regex-enabled Directive Sections |
| The new <Files> section allows directives to be enabled based on |
| full filename, not just directory and URL. In addition, <Files> |
| sections can appear in .htaccess files. <Files>, along with |
| <Directory> and <Location>, can also now be based on regular |
| expressions, not just simple prefix matching. |
| |
| *) Browser-based Environment Variables |
| Environment variables can now be set based on the User-Agent |
| string of the browser. Combined with XSSI, this allows you to |
| write browser-based conditional HTML documents. |
| |
| *) SetUID CGI Execution |
| Apache now supports the execution of CGI scripts as users other |
| than the server user. A number of security checks are built in to |
| try and make this as safe as possible. |
| |
| *) URL Rewriting Module |
| The optional mod_rewrite module is now included. This module can |
| provide powerful URL mapping, using regular expressions. There's |
| nothing this module can't do! |
| |
| *) Enhanced, Configurable Logging |
| The optional mod_log_config included with earlier versions of |
| Apache is now standard, and has been enhanced to allow logging of |
| much more detail about the transaction, and can be used to open |
| more than one log at once (each of which can have a different log |
| format). |
| |
| *) User Tracking (Cookies) Revisions |
| The mod_cookies included with previous versions of Apache has been |
| renamed mod_usertrack, to more accurately reflect its function |
| (some people inadvertently thought it enabled cookie support in |
| Apache, which is not true - Apache supports the use of cookies |
| directly). It is also now possible to disable the generation of |
| cookies, even when the cookie module is compiled in. Also, an |
| expiry time can be set on the cookies. |
| |
| *) Multiple IPs in <VirtualHost> |
| The <VirtualHost> directive can now take more than one IP address |
| or hostname. This lets a single vhost handles requests for |
| multiple IPs or hostnames. |
| |
| *) CGI Debugging Environment |
| ScriptLog allows you to now set up a log that records all input |
| and output to failed CGI scripts. This includes environment |
| variables, input headers, POST data, output, and more. This makes |
| CGI scripts much easier to debug. |
| |
| *) Resource Limits for CGI Scripts |
| New directives allow the limiting of resources used by CGI scripts |
| (e.g. max CPU time). This is helpful in preventing 'runaway' CGI |
| processes. |
| |
| *) Redirect Directive Can Return Alternate Status |
| The Redirect directive can return permanent or temporary redirects, |
| "Gone" or "See Other" HTTP status. For NCSA-compatibility, |
| RedirectTemp and RedirectPermanent are also implemented. |
| |
| *) Graceful Restarts |
| Apache can re-read the config files and re-open log files without |
| terminating transactions in progress. |
| |
| *) Simplified Compilation |
| The process of configuring Apache for compilation has been |
| simplified. |
| |
| *) Add or Remove Options |
| The Options directive can now add or remove options from those |
| currently in force, rather than always replacing them. |
| |
| *) Command-line Help |
| The -h command-line option now lists all the available directives. |
| |
| *) Optional Headers Module to Set or Remove HTTP Headers |
| The optional mod_headers module can be used to set custom headers |
| in the HTTP response. It can append to existing headers, replace |
| them, or remove headers from the response. |
| |
| *) Conditional Config Directives |
| A new <IfModule> section allows directives to be enabled only if a |
| given module is loaded into the server. |
| |
| *) Authorization Directives Now Use NCSA-style Syntax |
| The AuthUserFile, AuthGroupFile and AuthDigestFile commands now |
| have a syntax compatible with the NCSA server. |
| |
| *) Optional Proxy Module |
| An improved FTP, HTTP, and CONNECT mode SSL proxy is included with |
| Apache 1.2. Some of the changes visible to users: |
| |
| - Improved FTP proxy supporting PASV mode |
| - NoProxy directive for excluding sites to proxy |
| - CONNECT mode ports are configurable from a list |
| - NoCache * directive for disabling proxy caching |
| - Numerous bug fixes |
| |
| *) Optional Example Module |
| An example module that demonstrates many of the aspects of the |
| API is now included with Apache as of version 1.2. It can be |
| used as a base for those who wish to write their own Apache |
| modules. |
