Tenon Intersystems : Press Release

Apache Module Development Kit Available For Mac Webmasters

Tenon open sources W*API Apache module to accelerate OS X Transition

Santa Barbara, CA, May 12, 2000. Tenon Intersystems today released the sources for a significant component of their WebTen Apache implementation. This open source distribution is designed to help Macintosh WebSTAR plug-in developers who want to develop Apache modules. The distribution also includes dynamic module Apache plug-in support, Mac OS Toolbox API for building hybrid UNIX/Mac modules and Macintosh ACGI support.

WebTen, heralded as the fastest and easiest to use Apache, was introduced in 1997, bringing Apache to the Macintosh platform for the first time. A key component of the WebTen development included extending Apache to support WebSTAR-style plug-ins. The WebSTAR plug-in interface is unique to the Mac OS platform. Including a mod_wsapi (the Apache module that implemented the WebSTAR plug-in specification) allowed Macintosh webmasters that embraced WebTen to take advantage of standard Apache modules and standard internet Perl and PHP CGIs, while also keeping their legacy WebSTAR plug-ins. Now that Mac OS X is available with built-in Apache and a standard Apache execution environment, WebSTAR plug-in developers will want to build Apache modules, giving them access to the more than six million Apache web sites, across heterogeneous platforms, and enhancing their plug-in performance.

In addition to open sourcing a significant portion of the WebTen code, Tenon is also releasing an open source development tool suite that will make the transition from WebSTAR plug-ins to Apache modules easier. The combined package is called Open-WebTen. The current software development platform for Open-WebTen is Tenon's MachTen (UNIX) for Mac OS. The sources could easily be modified to run under Mac OS X Server. Thus, either platform (Mac OS or Mac OS X Server) could be used to develop Apache modules for eventual deployment on Mac OS X or on Linux. Open-WebTen is available for download at http://www.tenon.com/~downloads/classic/open-webten_1.2.6-src.tar.gz

Tenon's web server software gives webmasters an evolutionary path from Mac OS to OS X Server to OS X, enabling them to gracefully move content and CGI scripts from one platform to another, all with a consistent architecture for secure web and mail delivery. Tenon's web server software for Mac OS X, iTools, is a suite of internet tools for professional webmasters that extends and enhances Apple's built-in Apache. Apple's OS X, coupled with the new G4 processors and Tenon's iTools, provides the foundation for world-class content delivery.

Tenon has benefited from the open source community for many years and, most recently, from the outstanding work of the Apache Software Foundation. We are very pleased that we are able to give back something to this generous and very capable community.

Founded in 1989, Tenon Intersystems is a leader in high-performance networking. Tenon Intersystems can be reached in the U.S. at 805-963-6983, by the internet at sales@tenon.com, or via the web at www.tenon.com.

WebTen and iTools include software developed by the Apache Group for use in the Apache HTTP Server Project. Apache Server and Apache Group are copyright Š1995-1999 The Apache Group. Tenon, WebTen, and iTools are trademarks of Tenon Intersystems. All other product names are trademarks of their respective holders.