Version History

This is very techinical, but details exactly what changed between releases of httpd. The list is in reverse chronological order.

1.1

Introduced experimental PEM/PGP based encrypted user authentication
Improved directory indexing
Cleaned up error output and fixed horrible output when server-side include error occurred
Fixed slight bug in buffering code
Directory indexing for user-supported directories fixed
Retrieval of user supported directory with no trailing slash issues redirect again
Now supports RFC931 identd for logging purposes
stderr for scripts and server side includes now sent to error_log
Fixed bug in NCSA script code which would cause Location: to be ignored for local files
Removed misfeature wherein Location: url's were being escaped by the server
Args to INC SRVURL escaped to avoid unpleasant surprises
Location: /cgi-bin/foo?arg now works
HEAD only for CGI scripts now ignores body put out by stupid scripts

1.0

CGI script interface introduced
Fixed bug in AddType
NCSA POST scripts now have REMOTE_HOST set
Output now buffered in 1K chunks

1.0a5

Fixed horrible bug in 1.0a4

1.0a4

Introduced user authentication (Basic scheme)
Multiple script directories now supported
Fixed bug in http_request.c related to clients not sending a method
Fixed bug in http_request.c which caused DirectoryIndex to be ignored and index.html to be used anyway
Added overrule for mime types in srm.conf and access config. so the user doesn't have to edit mime.types
Requests for directories which do not come with a trailing slash and will return a prewritten index are now redirected to the same URL with a trailing slash
The HEAD method is now supported
Fixed a getline call which was hardcoded to 1024 instead of HUGE_STRING_LEN
Fixed problem in which a user could GET /~user/../../../ and gain access outside of DocumentRoot
httpd.conf split into two files: a server configuration and a document configuration file
Introduced Redirect directive which allows you to redirect clients to documents' new locations
Introduced htpasswd program for managing user authentication
Fixed problems in http_access.c where certain .htaccess files were ignored and some symlinks were being followed when they shouldn't have
Distribution now places config files as foo.conf-dist instead of foo.conf so it doesn't write over your old files
Config files now case insensitive
MIME header scans are now case insensitive per the RFC
Added server config. diretive Timeout to control the timeouts when listening to or writing to a client
Script execution now uses execl() instead of system() to eliminiate extra tmp files and to allow system() from scripts.
New document config. directive DefaultType for type of files which cannot be typed from filename
Script arguments now not touched: Added support program to decode them for shell scripts
Added support for the post method of accessing forms
Added support for "extra path" in script name
Fixed so that an un-executable script now returns FORBIDDEN instead of blank page
Spaces in content type returned from scripts no longer included, so include files now work from imagerect script.
Thanks to Arjan de Vet, script execution no longer uses system() or popen(), reducing chroot requirements as well as allowing scripts to use system().
Added DefaultType directive to define what type a document with an unknown or missing extension should be
Added Timeout directive to allow servers to choose the length of time a client is given to send a request and to recieve the data.
Added preliminary support for POST scripts, or more importantly, support for scripts which interpret the new form submission methods.
Scripts now do all of their own URL decoding, which can be done either with provided C code, or with the support program unescape
Scripts may now have extra path information after the script name, so allowing filters
Improved Imagerect Script
Allowed non-URL location returns from script to allow access control, user authentication, and typing (great idea, Ari).
Returning content-length and last-modified headers

1.0a3

.htaccess files now affect subdirectories
Added option FollowSymLinks for security
Fixed MAJOR bug in init_mime function
Enhanced Makefile and httpd.h for people compiling httpd themselves
Added env. vars DOCUMENT_ROOT and SERVER_NAME for scripts

1.0a2

Introduced support for HTTP/1.0 3xx redirection from server scripts
Introduced per-directory access by host and options control
Added flags for BSD 4.2 compatibility (no killpg and no setsid)
Enhanced documentation
Introduced support for server restart through SIGHUP
Fixed bug which caused system not to return port when httpd is done
Fixed bug which caused server to go into infinite spin with GET /htbin
Bug in directory indexing repaired (thanks to neal@ctd.comsat.com).
Added timeout while sending data to client so as to alleviate zombie servers laying around when the client drops.

1.0a1

Introduced server scripts
Server scripts for a variety of UNIX commands like archie added
Server-side forms handling scripts added
Image rectangling scripts added
Introduced more extensible configuration file format
Server now replies to HTTP/1.0 clients in HTTP/1.0 format
Introduced MIME data type determination on the fly
Improved logging of client access as well as server errors
Major internal reworking
Added timeout for clients that disconnect
Added server include files

Version 0.5

Introduced standalone support
Final release for gopher support and experimental group annotation support
No reported outstanding bugs

Beta Version 0.4

Introduced experimental group annotation support
Introduced access logging
Introduced HTTP/1.0 tolerance
Handling of full hostnames added
Bug fixed with index.html not being recognized without a trailing slash
Fixed bug with extraneous character being added to the end of the data stream
Fixed bug handling directory URL's with trailing slashes
Made a little more friendly to Ultrix's brain death

Beta Version 0.3

Introduced drop-in gopher support
Fixed security hole
Not being able to find the config file does not send back a path

Beta version 0.2

Two security holes fixed
Double slashes in index of root fixed
Not being able to find error files no longer hangs the server

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