Bug #14303 Updated: httpd threads hang with large data structures

ID: 14303 User updated by: Darren.Gamble@sjrb.ca Reported By: Darren.Gamble@sjrb.ca Status: Closed Bug Type: Reproducible crash Operating System: Redhat 7.2 PHP Version: 4.0.6 New Comment: Good day, Sorry for the lack of reply. The function you had requested that I try, "apache_child_terminate", is not enabled. Looking at the source, it appears that this was toggled at compile time. Regardless of the usefulness of this function, I don't feel that the ticket should be closed until the problem itself is actually dealt with, instead of using this very patch-y workaround. Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2001-12-23 04:52:30] lobbin@php.net No feedback. Closing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2001-12-02 00:03:06] zak@php.net There is a not-yet-documented function called apache_child_terminate that should help you. Call the function at the end of your script so that Apache knows to terminate the process running the script (and clean up its memory) There was a recent thread on the PHP Dev mailing list related to this issue. If you are curious, check the list archives (or news group) for more information. The first message in the thread was started by Edin Kadribasic on Fri, 23 Nov 2001. You can also search for ap_child_terminate and apache_child_terminate. Visit http://www.php.net/support.php for information on where to find the archive and news group. Also, please do write back to let us know if the function helped your problem. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2001-11-30 13:39:07] Darren.Gamble@sjrb.ca I've had a lot of problems recently with PHP cleaning up properly after using large data structures. A sample script is included: $huge_array = array(); for ( $i=0 ; $i<= 8000 ; $i++ ) { foreach (array("cn" , "uid" , "sn" , "givenName" , "attr1" , "attr2" , "attr3") as $j ) { for ( $k=0 ; $k<= 50 ; $k++ ) { $huge_array[$i][$j][$k] = rand(0,10000)."value"; } } } The script executes normally, but the httpd thread remains afterwards, consuming memory and CPU. It appears to need a kill -9 to make it finally die. If enough of these are run, all of the child processes of apache get tied up, preventing it from serving any more requests. At this point the threads have to be killed and the server restarted. I've also encountered similar problems with storing the results of a large ldap_get_entries(), although the behavior of the above script suggests that the problem is not actually with the LDAP function. Reducing the size of the query incrementally reveals that there seems to be a "breaking point" where this behavior begins. httpd also logs that it has problems terminating its child processes: [warn] child process 9541 still did not exit, sending a SIGTERM I'm running php-4.0.6-7 under apache-1.3.20-16, all Redhat 7.2 RPMs, with the default configuration. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=14303&edit=1