[ic] Interchange::Link, missing.html, 404

[Kevin Walsh]

Joshua Lavin <josh at myprivacy.ca> wrote:
> Using IC 5.4.0, Interchange::Link for mod_perl2.
> 
> My special_pages/missing.html does not return a header of 404/Not  
> found. Rather they return 200/OK. This is not desired.
> 
> When I used Mod::Interchange, I used the 'tag' tag in missing.html:
> 
> [tag op=header]
> Status: 404 Not found
> Content-type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1
> [/tag]
> 
> This no longer works with IC:Link (gives a blank page). Also reported  
> here:
> http://www.icdevgroup.org/pipermail/interchange-users/2006-March/ 
> 045144.html
> 
> I believe the problem stems from this code in Link.pm:
> 
> elsif($set_status =~ /^404/) {
> #warn "404 not found status\n";
>       close (SOCK)   or die "close: $!\n";
>       return Apache2::Const::OK;
> }
> 
> Is there any reason why this could not return  
> Apache2::Const::NOT_FOUND? Would that not allow us to use a  
> missing.html? (Could I use an ErrorDocument then, delivered by IC?)
> 
> Anyone else having this problem?
> 
My "missing" pages use the [tag] code you posted above.  I use
mod_interchange everywhere and that works fine.  In fact, I was
going to commit that [tag] code to the Standard demo.  I won't do
that now.

I don't have an Interchange::Link setup to play with but, looking
at the code, it seems that you might be able to get away with the
following (completely untried and untested) patch:

----------------------------------------------------------------------

--- ./dist/src/mod_perl2/Interchange/Link.pm    28 Jun 2006 14:39:41 -0000      1.10
+++ ./dist/src/mod_perl2/Interchange/Link.pm    28 Jun 2006 19:28:26 -0000
@@ -743,11 +743,6 @@
             close (SOCK)                                or die "close: $!\n";
             return Apache2::Const::REDIRECT;
         }
-        elsif($set_status =~ /^404/) {
-#warn "404 not found status\n";
-            close (SOCK)                                or die "close: $!\n";
-            return Apache2::Const::OK;
-        }
                elsif($set_status eq 'httpd_deliver') {
                        $deliver_object = $set_status;
                }
@@ -792,6 +787,11 @@
                }
                close (SOCK)                                or die "close: $!\n";
                print @out;
+
+               if ($set_status =~ /^404/) {
+#warn "Returning NOT_FOUND\n";
+                       return Apache2::Const::NOT_FOUND;
+               }
        }

 #warn "Returning OK\n";

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not sure whether the NOT_FOUND return code is necessary.  It's
probably not;  OK is probably sufficient.  If the NOT_FOUND proves to
be incorrect then just remove the "-" lines and forget the "+" lines,
otherwise apply the whole patch and see what it does.

If you need me, you'll find me in the nuclear fallout shelter. :-)

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