To all whom it may concern,
I realize that some, or all, of this may have been addressed time and
time again, but I would like to query the current contributors and
direction setters at large and present. Yes, this is only one
micro-facet of industry problems, but it is also one which is very
important at present. I welcome any comments and/or corrections.
1. I have noticed that many MPMs attempt to be portable. While this is
a convenience is it done at the expense of performance? Are there more
modern MPMs in the works? What's the status of "The Async Apache Server
implemented in terms of APR"?
2. As the various Unix like OS's continue to mature, and the "Unix-like"
standards do not keep pace, these OS's begin to diverge more and more,
especially internally. There are situations where ad hoc
standardization has occurred (i.e. sendfile(), /dev/poll), but to a
limited degree (i.e. Linux /dev/epoll, FreeBSD kqueue, sendfile()).
While Dan Kegel continues to make the world at large aware of the
importance of a scalable I/O readiness mechanism, it would appear that
some of us are not taking enough stabs.
3. Platform spotlights. I know it is probably inappropriate to
emphasize the importance of improving one platform over another, but we
certainly don't lose any sleep over porting Apache to DOS. The point
here is that reality dictates that certain platforms do in fact have a
significantly greater presence as web servers than others. My offhand
list, in no particular order, is Solaris, Linux, {Free,Net}BSD, and
Windows.
4. Tomorrow's view. While Apache has the strongest presence, according
to popular statistics firms, Microsoft IIS is no slouch. In fact, they
appear to have nearly half of Apache's penetration. On April 24th,
Microsoft plans to release IIS 6, a significant overhaul in many
regards, especially performance. The development personnel at Microsoft
have apparently put a significant effort into re-architecting IIS,
following, in principle, what several Unix like OS's have tried (i.e.
tux, nca). The fact alone that Windows does not *need* to comply with
any intra-platform standards does give it a level agility that can only
be obtained in the Apache world through platform specific optimizations.
This does not mean that interfaces cannot be standardized, it's just a
point. In addition, I would just like to point out, that the
performance aspect of IIS 6 is *not* even the top bullet on the list.
While Microsoft may have significant monetary resources, they are using
the same Intel processors that everyone does.
5. Unix-like OS's integration of Apache. It has become quite evident
that the majority of Unix-like OS's have adopted Apache as their
"default" web server. This, of course, is good news; it signifies that
Apache has caught their attention. However, it has also placed a
significant amount of faith in Apache. Screenshots do for a GUI what
web server software does for an Internet server; meaning that it is a
cover by which the book is judged.
6. Documentation. I realize that it's the least fun thing for many of
us, but it does attract newcomers. While I have no doubt the current
Apache team is superb, new blood for thinkers and workers is always
important. Without a captive, sexy way to draw someone into the labor
of learning the internals of
Apache it will never happen on a large scale.
7. More to come in the future. Apache is great, keep up the awesome
work, we all appreciate it!
/kristofer
