Drop mod_fastcgi support

[ekohl]

mod_fastcgi isn't part of EL7 and beyond, nor in any current Debian/Ubuntu release. That's because upstream is dead. It also isn't part of RHEL itself and EPEL 6 is dead. Removing it from the codebase simplifies it.

[david22swan]

While this look's like a good change to me and is one I would love to get in I'm not sure we can merge it.
As a RedHat partner we are obligated to continue to support RHEL 6, and by extension Apache 2.2, until such time as it is definitively EOL.
If I could remove it I would, I have an entire branch saved away somewhere waiting for the day it can be rebased and all that excess code can be removed from the module.

[ekohl]

As a RedHat partner we are obligated to continue to support RHEL 6, and by extension Apache 2.2, until such time as it is definitively EOL.

But as far as I could see, mod_fastcgi is not in EL6 itself. At least, https://vault.centos.org/centos/6/os/x86_64/Packages/ doesn't list it (don't have a real RHEL 6 on hand). It looks like it was previously provided through external repositories. However, https://archives.fedoraproject.org/pub/archive/epel/6/x86_64/Packages/m/ also only lists mod_fcgid, not most_fastcgi. So really, where did it come from?

6c1ed75 stopped installing it on EL7, but I can't see where it came from on EL6. 48fb00e added it, but also doesn't describe anything. #295 does describe that it once came from official archives, but even in 2013 it was abandoned for 2 years.

I'd say that if it isn't in RHEL 6 itself, it's safe to drop. EPEL6 is EOL and not supported by Red Hat. Disclaimer: while I have my own employer provided Red Hat, I don't know the exact scope of partnerships.

[david22swan]

From my perspective at least, it's more of that the alternative to it, mod_proxy_fastcgi is only available in 2.3.(?) and upwards.
So if we remove it then anyone still using RHEL 6 and Apache 2.2, which I'm told there is, are unable to utilise this functionality or anything similar.

[ekohl]

Generally speaking Red Hat is very strict in "if we don't provide the bits, we don't support it". I found https://actsupport.com/apache-php-fpm-mod-fastcgi/ which states:

mod_fastcgi will not be in default CentOS repo, so please install rpmforge repo.

Considering rpmforge is dead and even no longer online, I really wonder who is going to use it. Worse, how are you going to support it if you can't even get it to run because you don't have the bits?

[david22swan]

Ok, you've convinced us.
Hope you don't mind waiting for the narrow PR to be merged first though.

[ekohl]

No, that's a good idea. Rebasing this is trivial.

[ekohl]

Rebased

[david22swan]

LGTM
Test failure is from a CI issue and not due to the code.

[david22swan]

Thank's for the work.
This should be released on next Friday, since the release has so many changes have put a message out in this weeks blog and giving it some time before cutting it and pushing it out.

[raybellis]

Please put this back in! mod_fastcgi is still a supported package in FreeBSD!

[ekohl]

Interesting. https://www.freshports.org/www/mod_fastcgi/ does have more information, like https://github.com/FastCGI-Archives which I wasn't able to find. Since I'm not able to test it, I think you'll have to come up with a PR @raybellis.

[raybellis]

I don't have the means or head space to build a CI test, but I can assure you that the code that was removed in these commits was working perfectly well for us on FreeBSD.

I do have a workaround using custom config blobs, so this is not critical, but please do consider that major Linux distros are not the only place people run Puppet.

[ekohl]

My biggest concern is that mod_fastcgi is dead upstream and no development happens on it. I took that as a sign nobody would bother shipping it and I'm really surprised FreeBSD still does.

[raybellis]

I took it as a sign that it doesn't need any more development on it ;-)

It is a dependency for running the popular RT ticket system.