I set up apache2 on an older machine (400 MHz) and recognized that it takes a long time until a page can be loaded after the server has been started. The error_log shows this: [Sun Jan 11 19:57:49 2004] [notice] Digest: generating secret for digest authentication ... [Sun Jan 11 20:04:26 2004] [notice] Digest: done [Sun Jan 11 20:04:27 2004] [notice] Apache/2.0.48 (Gentoo/Linux) PHP/4.3.4 configured -- resuming normal operations You can see that this process took about 7 mins. On a faster machine (1,7 GHz) the secret is generated in less than 1 sec. If I remove mod_auth_digest from the config file, it works perfectly. By the way: Sometimes it "only" takes 1 min to generate the secret. The strange thing is that this problem doesn't occur on the newer machine. The overall config of these systems are nearly the same. BTW: Kernel 2.6 is used. I already posted this on an apache mailing list and got an answer: "Let me guess: Gentoo? This is becomaing an FAQ on #apache. Gentoo have a bug that does that. Just remove mod_auth_digest. Or if you need it, scrap the gentoo apache and compile from clean source." Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. set up apache with default config 2. start apache once -> the secret should be generated immediately 3. restart apache with /etc/init.d/apache2 restart 4. try to open a page and look in error_log Actual Results: It takes a long time until the first page is loaded after apache has been started. The error_log shows that generating the secret of mod_auth_digest delays this. Expected Results: The secret should be generated within 1 sec and therefore not block apache. sirius root # emerge info Portage 2.0.49-r21 (default-x86-1.4, gcc-3.2.3, glibc-2.3.2-r3, 2.6.0) ================================================================= System uname: 2.6.0 i686 Pentium II (Deschutes) Gentoo Base System version 1.4.3.10 distcc 2.11.1 i686-pc-linux-gnu (protocols 1 and 2) (default port 3632) [enabled] ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86" AUTOCLEAN="yes" CFLAGS="-O3 -march=i686 -funroll-loops -pipe" CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu" COMPILER="gcc3" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb /usr/kde/2/share/config /usr/kde/3/share/config /usr/share/config /var/qmail/control" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/gconf /etc/env.d" CXXFLAGS="-O3 -march=i686 -funroll-loops -pipe" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FEATURES="autoaddcvs ccache distcc sandbox" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://gentoo.oregonstate.edu http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/gentoo" AUTOCLEAN="yes" CFLAGS="-O3 -march=i686 -funroll-loops -pipe" CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu" COMPILER="gcc3" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb /usr/kde/2/share/config /usr/kde/3/share/config /usr/share/config /var/qmail/control" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/gconf /etc/env.d" CXXFLAGS="-O3 -march=i686 -funroll-loops -pipe" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FEATURES="autoaddcvs ccache distcc sandbox" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://gentoo.oregonstate.edu http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/gentoo" MAKEOPTS="-j4" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="" SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="X alsa apm arts avi berkdb crypt cups encode esd foomaticdb gdbm gif gnome gpm gtk gtk2 imlib java jpeg kde libg++ libwww mad mikmod motif mpeg mysql ncurses nls oggvorbis opengl oss pam pdflib perl png python qt quicktime readline sdl slang spell ssl svga tcpd truetype x86 xml2 xmms xv zlib"
i'll talk to the people in #apache about it. it isn't a gentoo or an apache bug. the problem is starvation of entropy on your system. *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 37039 ***
