id	summary	reporter	owner	description	type	status	component	version	severity	resolution	keywords	cc	stage	has_patch	needs_docs	needs_tests	needs_better_patch	easy	ui_ux
5354	django imports minidom (which imports pyexpat) causing a modpython segfault on certain setups	Antti Kaihola	Adrian Holovaty	"Changeset [5990] introduces and uses the {{{django.utils.version.get_svn_revision()}}} function which uses minidom.parse(). With certain combinations of Apache and mod_python versions, the version mismatch of {{{libexpat}}} used by both of them causes an Apache crash (segmentation fault on Linux). Apparently the problem has been worked around in Python 2.5.

For the inexperienced mod_python user this problem can be really hard to track down, since the symptoms are just empty web pages from the server and segmentation faults with no additional explanation in the Apache error log.

Would it be wise to avoid using {{{minidom}}} to avoid potential frustration for new users who might have a problematic setup?

Currently minidom is only used in {{{get_svn_revision()}}} and the {{{isValidHTML()}}} and {{{isWellFormedXml()}}} functions in {{{django.core.validators}}}. Maybe these cases could be solved with other tools?"		closed	Core (Other)	dev		wontfix	crash segfault	gkelly@…	Design decision needed	0	0	0	0	0	0