mod_layout and memory...

I've searched the archives and can't find a reference to this sort of behavior, I've tried mod_layout on two different versions of FreeBSD (4.5 and 4.7) running Apache 1.3.29. Strangely, 4.5 is fine, 4.7 isn't.

The only difference between the two is the SIZE of the header.txt and footer.txt files and the number of entries (this last item being counter-sensible).

On the 4.7 server, about 300 lines setup like this:

<Directory /home/joe>

LayoutMerge On

LayoutHeader /tmp/todayheader

LayoutFooter /tmp/todayfooter

</Directory>

<Directory /home/joe2>

LayoutMerge On

LayoutHeader /tmp/todayheader

LayoutFooter /tmp/todayfooter

</Directory>

<Directory etc..

On the 4.7 server /tmp/todayheader is about 3k and /tmp/todayfooter is about 2k (no SSI). It has about 100 directories config'd. Apache 1.3.29, when loaded, takes about 128MB PER PROCESS static or dynamic.

On the 4.5 server /tmp/todayheader is 1 byte, and /tmp/todayfooter is about 100 bytes (no SSI). It has about 4000 directories config'd. Apache 1.3.29, when loaded, takes about 12MB PER PROCESS dynamically.

I didn't see anywhere that said layout stored the files in memory, and in fact, some of the messages I have read suggested the opposite. Could there be any reason why this occurs? I have tried updating/changing the libraries, recompiling the binaries, fiddling with compile-time optimization settings and trying to tweak the amount of shared memory allocated to no avail.

If I comment out the Include file with the <Directory> list on the 4.7 or the 4.5 server, the memory footprint returns to normal ~2Mb per process. The memory usage on both seems to grow linearly with the number of directory lines, but the only reason I can see a discrepancy is because of the difference in sizes of the header/footer files.

If mod_layout uses ram to store the files, can this be (?easily?) made to work with shared memory instead? Would Apache 2.x fair better on FreeBSD 4.x?

Thanks in advance!

Fusion

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