Received: (qmail 37551 invoked by uid 501); 13 May 2000 23:12:08 -0000 Message-Id: <20000513231208.37550.qmail@locus.apache.org> Date: 13 May 2000 23:12:08 -0000 From: Seth Chaiklin Reply-To: seth@psy.au.dk To: submit@bugz.apache.org Subject: Give more accurate error message when dbm files cannot be opened. X-Send-Pr-Version: 3.110 >Number: 6075 >Category: mod_auth-any >Synopsis: Give more accurate error message when dbm files cannot be opened. >Confidential: no >Severity: non-critical >Priority: medium >Responsible: apache >State: open >Class: change-request >Submitter-Id: apache >Arrival-Date: Sat May 13 16:20:00 PDT 2000 >Closed-Date: >Last-Modified: >Originator: seth@psy.au.dk >Release: 1.3.12 >Organization: apache >Environment: Linux >Description: If you search on "could not open dbm auth file" in the bugs database, then you will see, from time to time, over the past two years that people report that things were working, and then suddenly they got an error message about could not open dbm auth file. I recently had the same experience, and after a while discovered that apache was being compiled with -lndbm (because I have glibc-2.1.2), but my databases had been made with gdbm. (So after recompiling with gdbm (where I hacked helpers/find-dbm-lib), everything worked just fine. My suggestion: Perhaps the (2)No such file or directory message should not appear, at least in the cases where the file is actually there. It would probably help a number of people to debug this problem (given that apache already acknowledges that its config for the libraries is not so good). I have not given so many details here, because presumably the person who cares and feeds mod_auth_dbm.c knows exactly what the issue is. If not, then I can elaborate. >How-To-Repeat: >Fix: the relevant place is src/modules/standard/mod_auth_dbm.c, line 161 It is mostly a matter of having more accurate error messages. (i.e., to check whether the file is actually there or not, and perhaps there are more precise error messages about the problem that the various database packages provide, instead of "could not open dbm...") Alternatively, maybe a mention in the FAQ about the idea of checking which database was actually compiled into apache, and checking that this is also the format of the database that one is trying to read. >Release-Note: >Audit-Trail: >Unformatted: [In order for any reply to be added to the PR database, you need] [to include in the Cc line and make sure the] [subject line starts with the report component and number, with ] [or without any 'Re:' prefixes (such as "general/1098:" or ] ["Re: general/1098:"). If the subject doesn't match this ] [pattern, your message will be misfiled and ignored. The ] ["apbugs" address is not added to the Cc line of messages from ] [the database automatically because of the potential for mail ] [loops. If you do not include this Cc, your reply may be ig- ] [nored unless you are responding to an explicit request from a ] [developer. Reply only with text; DO NOT SEND ATTACHMENTS! ]