Since a lot of people on-list are starting to make noise about
rejecting feature changes because we are close to releasing
Apache 2.0, I would like to ask what are the outstanding issues
that must be addressed before we release Apache 2.0 as GA?
As a starting point, my personal items are as follows:
- Completely remove threaded MPM and replace it with worker. I do
not think that the current threaded MPM can work (due to discussions
held on this list previously). The worker MPM (which Aaron has been
making progress towards) should act as a replacement MPM. I know
that Aaron has some patches that he has tested that make it faster
than prefork. I look forward to seeing those patches make it in
and fully tested.
- Get the APR lock situation straightened out. This means converting
the old lock API to the new one. (This probably means that APR
needs to at least be beta by the time we release httpd as GA - other
than the locks, I don't see that as a major problem. I don't want
to have any major API changes after we hit GA - the lock API is a
fairly major API in APR.)
- Get mod_ssl stable - which at this point, requires testing it.
I was under the (false) impression that mod_ssl wasn't going to
hold up any releases. Since OtherBill said that isn't true,
let's make sure it is rock solid. This probably means that
we need to get a few beta-quality tarballs before going GA.
- Resolve the proxy situation. A lot of committers (FirstBill
comes to mind) would like to see this come back in the core.
If it is ready and the group consensus is to add it, then let's
add it back in before GA.
- Make sure that the recent optimizations in mod_include didn't
bust anything. I don't think it did (otherwise, I wouldn't have
committed it), but it does need to be tested. We can probably
strengthen the tests in httpd-test to create bucket border cases.
- Straighten out the filter config syntax as OtherBill and I have
suggested. I think that the current syntax is too confusing and
not powerful enough. Once we release httpd-2.0 as a GA, I don't
think we can make any configuration syntax changes. So, this
would have to go in before we hit GA.
- Verify the bucket/brigade API and potentially try to address the
memory usage concerns (get it not to do malloc/free on small
chunks). AIUI, Cliff is working towards this.
- Update the documentation to be as current as we can make it. I
think that the docs are fairly up-to-date, but we need to make
sure that the docs are just as solid as the code.
- I would like to see performance with Apache 2.0 equal or surpass
the performance of Apache 1.3. However, I'm not entirely sure
that will happen before we can release (if you want to do so in
45 days as some have suggested). Given that that may not be the
case, I'd like it to be as close as possible. In the last few
weeks, we've definitely made strides towards improving our
performance (especially in mod_include - thanks to Brian and Ian).
In the subsequent point releases, we can continue to address the
overall performance and attempt to make 2.1 faster than 1.3.
However, if 2.0 isn't faster than Apache 1.3, I wonder how many
people will adopt it (however, most sites are bandwidth limited,
so I'm not sure if this is a concern). Therefore, I think we
need to come to a consensus about our take on the performance of
Apache 2.0 relative to Apache 1.3. Is it a requirement that
Apache 2.0 must be as fast as Apache 1.3 before we hit GA?
I believe that our current tree status is at a beta-quality level.
And, I think we can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel
(and are anxious to get this released and out the door). People
can use it, but I'm not entirely sure that I would call what we
have as being rock-solid as Apache 1.3.
Before we release a GA build, I believe *we* have to believe that it
is a substantially better and as reliable a product as Apache 1.3
(which is a very hard product to beat). This doesn't mean that
there aren't any bugs with it - it's just that we know of *zero*
bugs in the tree after receiving all of the feedback from the
community, testers, and our own use.
I would like to ensure that any GA is ready and that we can
encourage any site admin who runs Apache 1.3 that they can upgrade
to 2.0 without any loss in functionality or stability (provided
that their modules are ported properly).
As most of you know (like I haven't said it enough), I'm going to be
out of regular email contact for a few weeks. But, I hope this
enlightens you on my perspective on what should happen before a
GA is released. I look forward to seeing any replies and thoughts
before I leave tomorrow (please continue this thread even if I can't
reply!).
"How do we know when we get there if we don't know where we're going?"
Once classes start again and I get settled in my new place, I'll
resume active development. -- justin
