[web2py] "Last Saved On" field displays "communication error" using HTTPS on Apache2, OpenSSL 0.98k, mod_wsgi, python 2.6.5

[Salvor Hardin]

I'm new to web2py and python (currently evaluating python frameworks
to replace Ruby on Rails on production servers by July 4th weekend.)

PROBLEM:

 * Saving a file using the admin interface displays a red
"communication error" in the "Last Saved On" field.  However, when I
click Reload in the browser, a new date and time appears correctly so
the file is successfully saved.

I'm using HTTPS (web2py is not running on 127.0.0.1.)

SYSTEM:
 * Software: web2py 1.79.1, Python 2.6.5, Apache 2.2.14, mod_wsgi 2.8,
OpenSSL 0.98k, sqlite 3.6.22
 * Browsers:  Latest stable versions of Chrome and Firefox on Vista 32-
bit
 * OS: Ubuntu Server 10.04 LTS guest running in Virtual PC 2007 SP1 on
Vista 32-bit host
          (because Virtual PC 2007 only uses ~16 (sixteen) MB RAM for
actively used Ubuntu Server 10.04 guest setup with 512 MB RAM,
           and because my work desktop is Vista, and I need to develop
web apps on identical OS & packages as the production server due to
policy)

CONFIGURATION:

I'm using HTTPS, so here's the SSL portion of the Apache2 config
(ubuntu.private.lan is the dev machine mapped to a LAN address):

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerName ubuntu.private.lan
  WSGIDaemonProcess web2py user=www-data group=www-data display-
name=web2py
   ...
</VirtualHost>

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
<VirtualHost *:443>
  ServerName ubuntu.private.lan

  SSLEngine on
  SSLCertificateFile    /etc/ssl/certs/ssl-cert-snakeoil.pem
  SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/ssl-cert-snakeoil.key
  <FilesMatch "\.(cgi|shtml|phtml|php)$">
      SSLOptions +StdEnvVars
  </FilesMatch>
  <Directory /usr/lib/cgi-bin>
      SSLOptions +StdEnvVars
  </Directory>
  BrowserMatch "MSIE [2-6]" nokeepalive ssl-unclean-shutdown
downgrade-1.0 force-response-1.0
  # MSIE 7 and newer should be able to use keepalive
  BrowserMatch "MSIE [17-9]" ssl-unclean-shutdown

  # WSGIDaemonProcess defined is under <VirtualHost *:80> as:
WSGIDaemonProcess web2py user=www-data group=www-data display-
name=web2py
  WSGIProcessGroup web2py
  WSGIScriptAlias / /srv/web2py/wsgihandler.py

  <Directory /srv/web2py>
    AllowOverride None
    Order Allow,Deny
    Deny from all
    <Files wsgihandler.py>
      Allow from all
    </Files>
  </Directory>

  AliasMatch ^/([^/]+)/static/(.*) \
        /srv/web2py/applications/$1/static/$2

  <Directory /srv/web2py/applications/*/static/>
    Order Allow,Deny
    Allow from all
  </Directory>

  CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log common
  ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log

</VirtualHost>
</IfModule>