Re: apache2 or mod_perl2 oddball error

According to Andr? Warnier <[email protected]> on Sun, 06/19/11 at 17:52:
> 
> When Apache executes a LoadModule directive, it not only loads that module 
> code in memory. The module code also gets called at that point, and in 
>  return the module tells Apache which further configuration directives "it 
> is interested in".
> For example, when Apache encounters "LoadModule mod_perl.so", mod_perl gets 
> loaded, and tells Apache that it is interested in processing further 
> directives such as "PerlModule", PerlRequire, PerlSetVar, etc.. (all the 
> other mod_perl specific directives).
> (Otherwise,Apache would not "know" these directives, and would flag them as 
> errors right away).
> Subsequently, when Apache detects one of these module-specific directives, 
> it passes the directive line to mod_perl, to parse and interpret that line.
> If mod_perl then detects a syntax (or other) error in that line, it returns 
> an error status to Apache, and Apache as a result refuses to continue 
> parsing the Apache configuration file, and refuses to start.

Thanks.  This is very educational information.

> In other words, maybe for mod_perl 5.x, a directive such as
> PerlModule "Apache2::Const -compile => ':common'"
> may have been acceptable, and did not cause mod_perl to return an error to 
> Apache.
> But for mod_perl 5.x+1, that same form is not acceptable anymore, and 
> returns an error.
> And *that* is what prevents Apache to start.

Well, I believe that isn't the problem here, but I'm still struggling
with the problem.

> Personally, I have never seen before a PerlModule directive like
> PerlModule "Apache2::Const -compile => ':common'"
> In an Apache configuration file, I have always seem only PerlModule 
> directives like
> PerlModule Apache2::Const
> (and that is also what the on-line mod_perl documentation seems to indicate 
> as the valid format, see 
> http://perl.apache.org/docs/2.0/user/config/config.html#C_PerlModule_)

Thanks.  I did not write that line.  The include file where that line is
found came with the application that requires mod_perl.  Prior to using
this application I had no need to use mod_perl.  Talk about a trial by fire...

Perhaps the reason that syntax is used may have come from this POD:

   <http://search.cpan.org/~phred/mod_perl-2.0.5/docs/api/Apache2/Const.pod#:common>

> So, if you just remove the "-compile => ':common'" part, does Apache still 
> fail to start (at the same point I mean) ?

You may have missed my earlier replies, or maybe I've lost track which list
I have been posting to (I've tried both apache and mod_perl lists to date).

This suggestion was given earlier and I tried it late last week to no avail.
I still got the same error complaining about the Apache2::Const module.
My belief is that something in Perl 5.14 is causing this problem since when
I renamed the include file in question (effectively removing it from the
list of *.conf files that httpd.conf was told to read), the problem went
away!  I was able to start the apache server (several processes running)
and exercised it with other HTML files (not the application in question).

> That you may then see errors at some other point (because of the missing 
> "-compile => ':common'") is a different matter, and can be resolved 
> separately.

If I knew how to track down this problem further, I would be happy to,
but this is all new territory for me.  I am now contemplating rebuilding
my system from scratch using Perl 5.12.3 which worked (in the apache
sense) prior to my June 9th upgrade.  Unfortunately, this is a vary large
task and deprives me of some of the things in Perl 5.14 that might be
good to have.  Of course, if this is a 5.14 problem, then I should do
the down-grade, but not knowing is making this decision more difficult.

Regards,

web...

--
William Bulley                     Email: [email protected]

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