Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 11:48:45 +0200
From: "Ralf S. Engelschall" <rse@engelschall.com>
To: apache-announce@apache.org
Subject: Apache 1.3 Beta 6 Released


 Apache 1.3 Beta 6 Released
 ==========================

 The Apache Group is pleased to announce the release of the 1.3b6 version
 of Apache, the latest beta release of the Apache HTTP server. 1.3b6 is
 a release candidate for Apache 1.3.0.
 
 This version is stable under UNIX but remains beta-level under Win32. No
 new features are expected between 1.3b6 and 1.3.0, so please give this
 version a good thrashing in order to provide as much feedback as possible
 to the Apache Group before the release of 1.3.0.

 To grab the latest Apache distribution, check out
     http://www.apache.org/dist/
 and the huge list of available "International Mirror Sites" at
     http://www.apache.org/mirrors/

 For a detailed list of changes please read the CHANGES file in the
 distribution and the "New Features with Apache 1.3" document at
 http://www.apache.org/docs/new_features_1_3.html.  For your convenience here
 is a short summary of all major changes between Apache 1.2 and 1.3 (changes
 which are new with version 1.3b6 are tagged '+'):

   o Ported to Windows 95/NT
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/htdocs/manual/windows
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/README.NT

   o Ported to BS2000/OSD, a mainframe OS with EBCDIC charset 
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/htdocs/manual/ebcdic

   + Apache Autoconf-style Interface (APACI) for out-of-the-box installation
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/README.configure
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/INSTALL

   + Dynamic Shared Object (DSO) support for all major Unix platforms 
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/src/README.DSO

   + APache eXtenSion (APXS) tool for building third-party modules as DSO
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/src/README.DSO
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/src/support/

   + Additional support tools: apachectl, ab (ApacheBench), dbmmanage
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/src/support/

   + Enhanced configuration support: Include and Line-Continuation
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/htdocs/manual/new_features_1_3

   o New `Magic' MIME-typing module for content type guessing 
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/htdocs/manual/mod/mod_mime_magic

   o Regular Expression support for Alias and Redirect directives
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/htdocs/manual/mod/mod_alias

   + Overhauled and enhanced URL Rewriting Engine
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/htdocs/manual/mod/mod_rewrite

   o Spell-checking module for on-the-fly URL corrections
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/htdocs/manual/mod/mod_speling

   o Additional access control via CIDR and Netmasks
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/htdocs/manual/mod/mod_access

   o Improved HTTP/1.1-style Virtual Host support
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/htdocs/manual/vhosts/

   o Less Buffering of CGI Script Output (makes nph- obsolete)
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/htdocs/manual/new_features_1_3

   + Various Proxy Enhancements (NoProxy, ProxyDomain, ProxyPassReverse)
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/htdocs/manual/mod/mod_proxy

   o Various internal performance improvements
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/htdocs/manual/new_features_1_3

   o Various fixes to the hostname DNS lookup handling
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/htdocs/manual/mod/core

   o Various Directory Indexing enhancements
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/htdocs/manual/mod/mod_autoindex

   o Various Logging enhancements (Reliable Piped Logs, Named Log Formats)
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/htdocs/manual/mod/core
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/htdocs/manual/mod/mod_log_config

   o Unique Identifiers
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/htdocs/manual/mod/mod_unique_id

   o Source tree reorganization
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/htdocs/manual/sourcereorg

   + Big Symbol Renaming to avoid symbol clashes with third-party code
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/htdocs/manual/sourcereorg

   o API Additions
       http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3b6/htdocs/manual/new_features_1_3
  
 Apache has been the most popular web server on the Internet since April of
 1996. The Web Server Survey by Netcraft (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 to provide an open-source, secure,
 efficient and extensible server which provides HTTP services in sync with the
 current HTTP standards. For more information about the Apache project check
 out http://www.apache.org/.

                                       Ralf S. Engelschall
                                       rse@engelschall.com
                                       rse@apache.org