mod_ldap/util_ldap Issues...

[Jess Holle]

I've been struggling with mod_ldap / util_ldap for some time now.  The module is basically working on Windows (and HP Apache has it working with the worker MPM on HPUX), but I've been utterly failing on Solaris (8). There are a good number of open bugs on this module.  I updated to 2.0.48 + the latest sources from CVS in hopes that the most critical of these issues would be resolved. Unfortunately, I find that my Apache always crashes with core dump on the very first attempt to authenticate against LDAP *if* I leave the LDAP cache activated.  If I disable the LDAP cache, then LDAP authentication appears to work fine (in quick, light testing -- no stress testing yet). I don't have any reasonable debugger on the machine in question, so I just threw in some quick debug output.  What is interesting to me is that util_ldap_cache_module_kill is called during the Apache startup process.  This strikes me as highly suspicious and a possible cause of the latter crashes when attempting to access the LDAP cache -- but I could clearly be barking up the wrong tree. It is hard for me to believe that no one else in the Apache community needs LDAP authentication on Solaris.  It is also hard for me to believe that I'm the only one seeing the issue -- especially given the fact that there are open bugs on this.... Unfortunately, this is just the "showstopper" issue.  Other issues include: connections staying bound as wrong user preventing reliable non-anonymous access to LDAP crashes when LDAP cache size is exceeded (i.e. when cache purge is attempted) *may* be fixed in HEAD -- I last tested in 2.0.47 crashes on Windows when LDAP cache shared memory block is full *may* be fixed in HEAD -- I last tested in 2.0.47 Is the community giving up on the Apache groups' Apache 2 LDAP modules and using some other party's modules for this? I know there are some few individuals working hard on this area, but the open bugs in this area and severity thereof attest to a lack of cross-platform stability.  I also know this is an "experimental" module, but it is one that some of us desparately need... -- Jess Holle