Package: release.debian.org Severity: normal User: release.debian....@packages.debian.org Usertags: transition
We are in preparation of a transition of the Apache web server which is moving to a new major release (from 2.2 to 2.4). This is going to affect a large number of software in the Debian ecosystem, as Apache has a substantial number of reverse dependencies which are going to need a source transition. There are several classes of affected packages: * modules: These need adjustments in their configuration, dependencies and possibly some code changes * web applications: These probably only need changes to included configurations. * gnome-user-share: This pacakge includes its own complete configuration which needs to be updated. We are willing to assist the affected reverse dependencies with patches, NMUs and bug reports if required. First, let us point out the status quo. Apache consists of three major packages currently: * apache2 - an almost empty meta-package (depends on -common and a MPM package) * apache2.2-bin - contains all binaries and modules, including MPM binaries * apache2.2-common - containts init scripts, arch-independent data, conffiles Additionally there are MPM packages (apache2-mpm-worker + 4 alternatives) which are essentially empty, but mark an appropriate conflict resolution situation, as these MPMs can't be used concurrently at the same time and some reverse dependencies or users might have certain preferences. However, the actual binaries already lie in the apache2.2-bin package, the MPM packages only put symlinks in place. The upcoming upgrade breaks ABIs. Thus, we are required to rename several packages. Our ABI didn't change since Etch, so we expect people having a lot of unmaintained and third party modules sitting around and such outdated modules would break the webserver at postinst time or when trying to start the updated web server at latest. While we are at it, we try to make future transitions more manageable as the current situation is complicated to say the least (e.g. conffiles in apache2.2-common). The API changes are incremental, however. The actual code changes required will be rather small in most modules. That makes the transition a lot of work, but not impossible. We do not expect any major API incompatibility, but some modules (like mod_php and mod_perl) will need larger changes included in new upstream versions. In future we want three packages: * apache2: containting conffiles, init scripts, Debian specifics * apache2-bin: containing binaries, providing a versioned virtual package determining the ABI. Reverse dependencies are supposed to depend on this package exclusively (e.g. apache2-api-YYYYMMNN) * apache2-data: containing arch-independent data (icons, error pages, ...) The MPM packages are not needed anymore, as MPMs are simple modules in 2.4 which can be loaded at runtime. Additionally we need to rename the -dev package, as we are going to get rid of the threaded/prefork distinction at -dev level, too. To achieve a smooth upgrade path for all setups we are going to need transitional packages. We think it is feasible to rename the -dev package without transitional package, as we want to improve declaration of reverse dependencies, so a source change is needed anyway. To assist package maintainers we wrote a debhelper (dh_apache2) which helps maintainers setting up appropriate dependencies as well as possbibly Lintian checks. We plan to announce this change on a separate mail to debian-devel-announce once an upload is ready. Our suggested timeline: * We hope to have a package ready for experimental in mid-March. * We approach an upload to Sid in April, and would like to start filing bugs if required by then as well Depending on consensus, this opportunity could also be used to change dependencies of web applications on web servers to some recommended defaults. Lighttpd and nginx maintainers signaled interest to homogenize dependencies of web applications. Affected reverse dependencies: 73 Module source packages (from "dak rm -nR -b apache2.2-common apache2-threaded-dev apache2-prefork-dev"): apache-mod-auth-ntlm-winbind apache-upload-progress-module apparmor axis2c dacs gridsite libapache2-authcookie-perl libapache2-mod-auth-cas libapache2-mod-authn-sasl libapache2-mod-authn-yubikey libapache2-mod-authnz-external libapache2-mod-auth-openid libapache2-mod-auth-pam libapache2-mod-auth-pgsql libapache2-mod-auth-plain libapache2-mod-authz-unixgroup libapache2-mod-bw libapache2-mod-defensible libapache2-mod-encoding libapache2-mod-fcgid libapache2-mod-geoip libapache2-mod-ldap-userdir libapache2-mod-lisp libapache2-mod-macro libapache2-mod-perl2 libapache2-mod-python libapache2-mod-qos libapache2-mod-rivet libapache2-mod-rpaf libapache2-mod-ruid2 libapache2-mod-xsendfile libapache2-reload-perl libapache-authenhook-perl libapache-mod-auth-kerb libapache-mod-auth-radius libapache-mod-evasive libapache-mod-fastcgi/non-free libapache-mod-jk libapache-mod-layout libapache-mod-log-sql libapache-mod-musicindex libapache-mod-random libapache-mod-removeip libapache-singleton-perl libapreq2 libcgi-application-dispatch-perl libembperl-perl mod-auth-mysql mod-authn-webid mod-dnssd mod-gnutls mod-mime-xattr mod-mono mod-proxy-html mod-ruby modsecurity-apache mod-spamhaus mod-vhost-hash-alias mod-vhost-ldap mod-wsgi neko ocamlnet parser passenger php5 rampart scgi shibboleth-sp2 speedy-cgi-perl subversion suphp uwsgi webauth Source packages of web applications, etc.: 129 packages Searched by looking for /etc/.*apache.* with apt-file. It is likely that not all of these require adjustments. acidbase ampache apt-cacher auth2db backuppc bandwidthd bcfg2 check-mk chemical-structures cipux-cat-web collabtive cricket dcmtk debian-edu-config dhelp dico docbookwiki doc-central docvert dotclear dpkg-www d-push drupal6 drupal7 dsc-statistics dwww emacspeak emboss-explorer fai fail2ban fookebox freeradius frontaccounting fusionforge gallery gallery2 ganglia gbrowse git glpi gosa haci heartbeat ikiwiki-hosting ipplan iptotal jffnms jpoker jsmath jsxgraph knowledgeroot kolabd kolab-webadmin kolab-webclient ldap-account-manager lemonldap-ng letodms libapache-gallery-perl libapache-mod-fastcgi lightsquid linkchecker lire logcheck lurker lwat mahara mailman mediawiki minit mobyle movabletype-opensource mumble mumble-django munin mythweb nagvis nanourl netams netdisco Netdisco ojs phamm phpgacl phpldapadmin phpmyadmin phppgadmin php-xajax piwigo pnopaste pnp4nagios poker-network request-tracker3.8 request-tracker4 roundcube routino rtgui rtpg sagan-rules scuttle semanticscuttle simba simplesamlphp sitesummary slbackup-php smb2www smbind smokeping spip spotweb squirrelmail sugarplum sympa torrentflux torrus twitter-bootstrap typo3-src ukolovnik usemod-wiki w3c-linkchecker webgui websvn wims xemacs21-packages xsp xymon yocto-reader zabbix zoneminder zoph 2 special cases (from "dak rm -nR -b apache2.2-bin"): gnome-user-share mod-dnssd -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-release-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". 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