--- Begin Message ---
- To: Debian Bug Tracking System <submit@bugs.debian.org>
- Subject: /etc/init.d/apache should honor the VERBOSE variable
- From: Stephen Laniel <slaniel@laniels.org>
- Date: Wed, 18 May 2005 16:57:34 -0400
- Message-id: <20050518205734.B777D924124@randycohen>
Package: apache
Version: 1.3.33-3
Severity: important
A while back I commented on this bug:
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=283361
The problem was that if an apache-ssl cert is encrypted on disk with a
passphrase, Apache will prompt the sysadmin for the cert's passphrase
when the system boots. But /etc/init.d/apache tosses the output of
apachectl into /dev/null, so the user never sees the prompt. The machine
appears to hang, when in fact it's just waiting for user input. If
DELAYLOGIN is set to 'yes' (the default), an admin trying to remotely
administer the machine will not be able to sign in until this prompt is
cleared. So this Apache bug is actually disastrous.
A lot of this could be solved if /etc/init.d/apache behaved sensibly
with the VERBOSE environment variable, defined in /etc/default/rcS. If
VERBOSE is turned on, Apache should not throw away the stderr from
apachectl.
Then the problem becomes one of informing the user that he really ought
to turn VERBOSE on. If apache-ssl is installed, and if the cert is
encrypted on disk, then the user should be strongly advised to turn
VERBOSE on, and debconf should turn it on for him. In general, it's
probably just a good idea for Apache debconf to recommend turning on
VERBOSE, regardless of what settings the user has set.
-- System Information:
Debian Release: 3.1
APT prefers unstable
APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Kernel: Linux 2.4.27-1-386
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Versions of packages apache depends on:
ii apache-common 1.3.33-3 support files for all Apache webse
ii debconf 1.4.30.11 Debian configuration management sy
ii dpkg 1.10.25 Package maintenance system for Deb
ii libc6 2.3.2.ds1-20 GNU C Library: Shared libraries an
ii libdb4.2 4.2.52-17 Berkeley v4.2 Database Libraries [
ii libexpat1 1.95.8-1 XML parsing C library - runtime li
ii libmagic1 4.12-1 File type determination library us
ii logrotate 3.7-2 Log rotation utility
ii mime-support 3.28-1 MIME files 'mime.types' & 'mailcap
ii perl 5.8.4-5 Larry Wall's Practical Extraction
-- debconf information:
apache/server-name: localhost
apache/document-root: /var/www
apache/server-port: 80
* apache/enable-suexec: false
apache/init: true
apache/server-admin: webmaster@localhost
--- End Message ---