The Apache Software Foundation and the Apache Portable Runtime Project are proud to announce the General Availability of version 0.9.20 of the APR Apache Portable Runtime library.
The corresponding version 0.9.19 of the companion APR-util Apache Portable Utility library and version 0.9.7 of the companion APR-iconv library, an alternative portable implementation of the 'iconv' library, remain current.
APR is available for download from:
This version of APR is a security and bug fix release, and is provided only for users requiring APR 0.9 compatibility. Most developers are encouraged to adopt the latest APR 1.x version to ensure the most comprehensive support and access to the latest features and enhancements. For example, the Apache HTTP Server Project's httpd 2.0 release uses APR 0.9 for binary compatibility, while later httpd 2.2 releases require APR 1.2 or later for better support and additional features.
The security fix in the APR library release 0.9.20 must be evaluated in the context of how APR-consuming applications use the related function, to determine if they represent vulnerabilities to the specific application. Often the determination is whether or not the application provides untrusted input to the APR function. Refer questions to such APR-consuming projects for further guidance.
This fix, which is also included in the current APR 1.x release announced previously, is:
The mission of the Apache Portable Runtime Project is to create and maintain software libraries that provide a predictable and consistent interface to underlying platform-specific implementations. The primary goal is to provide an API to which software developers may code and be assured of predictable if not identical behavior regardless of the platform on which their software is built, relieving them of the need to code special-case conditions to work around or take advantage of platform-specific deficiencies or features.
APR and its companion libraries are implemented entirely in C and provide a common programming interface across a wide variety of operating system platforms without sacrificing performance. Currently supported platforms include:
To give a brief overview, the primary core subsystems of APR 0.9 include the following:
For a more complete list, please refer to the following URLs:
Users of APR 0.9 should be aware that migrating to the APR 1.x programming interfaces may require some adjustments; APR 1.x is neither source nor binary compatible with earlier APR 0.9 releases. Users of APR 1.x can expect consistent interfaces and binary backwards compatibility throughout the entire APR 1.x release cycle, as defined in our versioning rules:
APR is already used extensively by the Apache HTTP Server version 2 and the Subversion revision control system, to name but a few. We list all known projects using APR at http://apr.apache.org/projects.html -- so please let us know if you find our libraries useful in your own projects!