[Bug 1018024] [NEW] Apache Common and Combined definition Vs. documentation disparity

[Ryan Jones]

Public bug reported:

Using the default apache install the common and combined log format
definitions differ from both the vanilla apache documentation and the
documentation provided in the apache2-doc package in the file:
/usr/share/doc/apache2-doc/manual/en/logs.html

The vanilla apache documentation, the documentation in the apache2-doc package and the config file in the vanilla apache2.2.22 source package define the combined and common log file formats respectively as follows:
    LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}i\"" combined
    LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b" common

The file /etc/apache2/apache2.conf included in the Ubuntu apache2.2-common package defines the combined and common log file formats respectively as follows:
LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %O \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}i\"" combined
LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %O" common
The difference between them being that where in the vanilla version we have ‘%b’ whilst in the apache2.2-common version we have ’%O’. Whilst the data they return is similar they are not the same.

>From my point of view the two logical ways to deal with this issue are
1.	Change the /etc/apache2/apache2.conf file in the apache2.2.-common package from the ‘%O’ flag to the ‘%b’ flag. This will then match the documentation on the apache site, the documentation in the apache2-doc and the vanilla apache configuration.
2.	Change the name of the log file definitions in the configuration file (e.g. from common and combined to common-ubuntu and combined-ubuntu) to stop confusion with the different but identically named formats in the apache vanilla documentation.
Change the documentation provided in the apache2-doc packed to reflect this change.
Note for the purposes of this bug report ‘vanilla apache’ means from the httpd.apache.org site and nothing to do with the Ubuntu distribution.

** Affects: apache2 (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1018024

Title:
  Apache Common and Combined definition Vs. documentation disparity

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