Topic: Apache httpd 2.2.4 assertion error using ApacheMonitor

[otnateos]

Hi All,

I got a Microsoft Visual C++ Debug Library error when running Apache httpd 2.2.4 that I built saying

Debug Assertion Failed!
Program: C:\Apache2.2\bin\httpd.exe
File: commit.c
Line: 69

Expression: ("Invalid file descriptor. File possibly closed by a different thread",0)

The weird thing is that error only happens if I run the Apache server as windows service, if I run it using command line no error happens. Anyone has encounter this kind of error?

I built the server from source with Zlib & SSL using Visual Studio 2005 on Pentium 4 HT

[tdonovan]

It sounds like you built Apache as a Debug build instead of as a Release build, and then tried to run it as a service.

In general, you don't want to do that. A Debug build should be run from the command line or in the debugger, usually with the -X switch.

A Release build is appropriate for running as a service.

In fact, it is probably a very benign bug. See Apache bug #37776.

FYI - the code at server\mpm\winnt\nt_eventlog.c line 169 which calls _commit() is expected to fail
- except when running on NT4. That's why it doesn't check for errors.
No problem when running a Debug build from the command-line (or running on NT4),
but if you run a Debug build as a service there is no stderr file descriptor.
The Debug rutime library complains that this call fails - even though Apache itself doesn't check for errors.
The Release runtime library should not complain.

-tom-

[otnateos]

However I did build it with Release build, although everytime I build it, the first time always fail, and when success it generates a lot of .pdb file in Apache22 directory.

When I delete these .pdb file, everytime I start Apache httpd as a service it shows the assertion error, if I leave .pdb files untouched Apache httpd can run properly without any major dramas.

Does that mean I build the server as Debug ?

[tdonovan]

The original error you described, "Debug Assertion Failed! ", is exactly the error which a Debug build shows when you try to run it as a service.

Apache produces many .pdb files with either build - Debug or Release. These are symbol files, and they can be deleted in a production environment.

I cannot reproduce the behavior you describe where deleting the .pdb files causes an error, so I don't know what that is all about.

-tom-