[arch-general] Apache 2.4 - Pierre was right, a post on the front page is needed

[David C. Rankin]

All,

  The upgrade to apache 2.4 can present a real challenge for those relying on
mod_php, mod_ssl and vhosts. On 2/27 on Arch-dev, Pierre suggested: "Anyway, I
suggest in the end we should post an announcement on the front page." He was right.

  Having a few moments today to bring a production server up to date, I checked
www.archlinux.org for any current warnings about breakage or that user
interaction would be required for update. Finding none, I updated, and on reboot
Apache 2.4 was dead in the water. WTF?

  Searching I find the mpm_prefork issue, since my groupware (eGroupWare) relies
on mod_php. The mpm_prefork change seemed simple enough, but the server
continued to fail to start. The Order deny,allow statements were rejected,
numerous modules had been added/removed/renamed and httpd-ssl.conf and
httpd-vhosts.conf configs failed. An hour later, after config rewrites, httpd
came back to life, but will require additional study to confirm the new module
mix and groupware operation.

  Don't get me wrong, this isn't a complaint, you guys do a fantastic job
keeping arch on current release packages, but when updates to critical server
applications will break existing configurations, or require user interaction,
there should be a note on the front page of www.archlinux.org.

  This is simply to allow admins/users to adequately schedule time for an update
requiring intervention when it will differ from the standard update/reboot
scenario. What server packages should be considered critical? Any of the core
server apps (web: apache/php, mail, auth routines, ssl/tls, etc), that will
render a required part of a typical business server broken, it should be flagged.

  Thanks for the hard work, and so far, the sky hasn't fallen since the apache
2.4 update. Just don't get rid of mod_php, mod_fastcgi + php-fpm isn't a drop in
replacement in all cases.

-- 
David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.