Dear Apache developers,
I am a little concerned over the dispute between Apache and SGI, over the
"acceleration patches". Apache exists today because NCSA's httpd developers lost their
way with 1.4 and 1.5, eventually vanishing into an obscure footnote in history.
IMHO, Apache is in danger of taking the same road. For certain specific types of
content, it's being out-classed. mod_ssl's EAPI, or something functionally similar,
should be standard in Apache, by now. For static content, khttpd and tux are between
1.5 - 2.5 orders of magnitude faster than Apache. Cheetha (the Exokernel's web server)
is nearer 3 orders of magnitude faster.
To me, this indicates that there is a design problem that needs to be addressed.
And, given the history of "Open Source", it'll either be by the Apache group or by an
independent group starting from there as a base.
With 2.0 just about out the door, a potentially significant re-design is probably
not a good idea. However, merging in SGI's patches may well smooth over the rougher
spots until any potential design issues can be resolved.
I'm aware that some of SGI's "tweaks" are not entirely optimal for all platforms,
but that's nothing a #ifdef and a configure option can't fix.
I've also heard that there's a licence conflict, but - again - that's not anything
that can't be settled by talking.
Please, even if the Apache Group has made a final decision on the SGI patches,
would you be willing to address the broader issues of design and direction? I can't
speak for anyone else, but I, for one, would truly appreciate it.
Thank you -very- much in advance,
Jonathan Day
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