[Python-modules-team] Bug#433038: libapache2-mod-python: mod_python collides with mod_php5, rendering psp ususuable without proper error messages

[Gunter Ohrner]

Package: libapache2-mod-python
Version: 3.3.1-2
Severity: grave
Justification: renders package unusable


May be related to #411487, but does not seem to be the same:

If libapache2-mod-python is installed together with libapache2-mod-php5, (at 
least) the mod_python.psp handler fails immediately without any proper error message.

This also happens if the php5 mhash module is uninstalled, purged and apache is restarted. 
mod_python starts working immediately if mod-php5 is disabled using "a2dismod php5" and 
restarting apache.

The failure of mod_python.psp shows itself in that empty documents are delivered, but no error 
message is sent to the client or the error log. This in turn seems to be caused by the _psp.so 
module's parse() function which seems to return an empty string, effectively behaving as if 
the parsed psp file would be empty.

Interestingly, _psp.so's parsestring() function causes an immediate SIGSEGV of Apache's worker 
process.

This effectively renders mod_python.psp unusuable as soon as mod-php5 (maybe together with 
some specific modules) is installed and it's also hard to debug as there's no indication 
whatsoever of what is going wrong, other than that it "doesn't work".

My php related packages:

ii  libapache2-mod-php5                     5.2.3-1+b1                  server-side, 
ii  php5-common                             5.2.3-1+b1                  Common files for 
ii  php5-curl                               5.2.3-1+b1                  CURL module for php5
ii  php5-gd                                 5.2.3-1+b1                  GD module for php5
ii  php5-imagick                            2.0.0a2-1                   ImageMagick module for 
ii  php5-imap                               5.2.3-1+b1                  IMAP module for php5
ii  php5-ldap                               5.2.3-1+b1                  LDAP module for php5
ii  php5-mcrypt                             5.2.3-1+b1                  MCrypt module for php5
ii  php5-mysql                              5.2.3-1+b1                  MySQL module for php5
ii  php5-pgsql                              5.2.3-1+b1                  PostgreSQL module for 
ii  php5-pspell                             5.2.3-1+b1                  pspell module for php5
ii  php5-recode                             5.2.3-1+b1                  recode module for php5
ii  php5-sqlite3                            0.5-1                       SQLite3 module for 
ii  php5-tidy                               5.2.3-1+b1                  tidy module for php5
ii  php5-uuid                               1.5.1-1                     OSSP uuid module for 
ii  php5-xmlrpc                             5.2.3-1+b1                  XML-RPC module for 
ii  php5-xsl                                5.2.3-1+b1                  XSL module for php5


-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (950, 'unstable'), (500, 'testing'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.21-1-686 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=de_DE at euro, LC_CTYPE=de_DE at euro (charmap=ISO-8859-15)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages libapache2-mod-python depends on:
ii  apache2                       2.2.4-1    Next generation, scalable, extenda
ii  apache2-mpm-prefork [apache2] 2.2.4-1    Traditional model for Apache HTTPD
ii  apache2.2-common              2.2.4-1    Next generation, scalable, extenda
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]         1.5.13     Debian configuration management sy
ii  libc6                         2.6-2      GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  python                        2.4.4-6    An interactive high-level object-o
ii  python-central                0.5.14     register and build utility for Pyt
ii  python2.4                     2.4.4-4    An interactive high-level object-o

libapache2-mod-python recommends no packages.

-- debconf information:
* libapache2-mod-python/enable_module: true