Apache 1.3beta6 Released
------------------------

The Apache Group is pleased to announce the release of the 1.3b6 version
of Apache, the latest beta release of the Apache web server.

Apache 1.3 offers numerous enhancements, improvements and performance
boosts over the 1.2 code base. The most visible and noteworthy addition
is the ability to run Apache under Windows 95 and NT (known as the
``Win32'' port). 

Apache 1.3b6 under both Win32 and UNIX has undergone extensive testing, and is
much improved over the previous 1.3b5 release.  We feel confident that the
Win32 port is ready for a wider audience, and with that in mind, we are
providing pre-compiled executables for the Win32 platform, as well as a true
Win32 environment Installer (InstallShield). This is, however, still a beta
release and there are known issues that will be fixed before the final 1.3
release. The UNIX side is already stable now.

As a premiere, this version of Apache comes with the new Apache Autoconf-style
Interface (APACI) for out-of-the-box building and installing the complete
Apache package. Actually APACI provides the commonly known and expected
"configure" interface to the old Apache source configuration scripts. It is
able to batch-control any existing Apache configuration options (usually
specified manually in src/Configuration) and provides some additional features
like on-the-fly adding third-party modules to the build process or configuring
and installing the suEXEC mechanism.

Additionally this Apache version the first time provides greatly improved
support for loading Apache modules through dynamic shared object (DSO) files
under runtime through the improved mod_so. Apache currently supports this
feature under Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, SunOS, IRIX, OSF1 and UnixWare.
Actually all distributed Apache modules now can be build and installed as
shared objects by individually enabling DSO for them via APACI's
--enable-shared option. For building third-party modules outside the Apache
source tree a new support tool named `apxs' is provided which hides the
platform-dependend DSO-build mechanism and automates the installation and
activation of those DSO files.

Please be sure to read the CHANGES file and the "New Features with Apache
1.3" document (at http://www.apache.org/docs/new_features_1_3.html).
This is particularly important if you are using non-IP based virtual hosts.

Apache has been the most popular web server on the Internet since April
of 1996. The September 1997 WWW server site survey by Netcraft (see:
http://www.netcraft.co.uk/Survey/) found that more web servers were
using Apache than any other software. Apache and its derivatives are run
on over 50% of all web domains on the Internet.

The Apache project has been organized in an attempt to answer some of
the concerns regarding active development of a public domain HTTP server
for UNIX. The goal of this project is to provide a secure, efficient and
extensible server which provides HTTP services in sync with the current
HTTP standards.

For more information, please check out http://www.apache.org/