msl with apache2: "Pre-configuration failed"

I've compiled and installed mod_log_spread, but can't get apache to load 
the module and start successfully. I compiled/installed mod_log_spread.c 
(v. 1.15.2.1) with:
apxs -i -a -c -l spread mod_log_spread.c
I'm running apache 2.0.47, and it has mod_so.c compiled in. I'm using 
the spread library v. 3.17.01.

The problem is that apache fails when loading the mod_log_spread module. 
Using strace, the last interesting things that happens are as follows: 
mls is loaded, libspread is loaded, my httpd.conf is read, then my 
suexec program is stat'd. After the stat64(suexec,....) call, the 
message "Pre-configuration failed" is printed, and the program cleans up 
(munmap) and exits.

I am unfamiliar with writing apache modules, so I could be missing 
something very basic. What causes "Pre-configuration" to fail? Which 
function in mod_log_spread.c is called during this pre-configuration? Or 
is something external to mod_log_spread failing? I get this error by 
only swapping mod_log_spread for mod_log_config and adding a 
SpreadDaemon line in httpd.conf.

TIA,
Bill Montgomery