Debian/Linux: Unknown exception abbreviation 'compilation_error' at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 91

RT Users
1

Hi,

I am new to this list. I read the RT/FM installation guide, searched the
mail-archives and went to Google. But I couldn’t find much about my
problem, other then:

http://www.mail-archive.com/perl5-porters@perl.org/msg64312.html

Anyway, my apologies if this is a known issue that I was supposed to know
about.

I run an unstable Debian/Linux and apt-gettet request-tracker3 today
(version 3.0.4-4). I can’t start Apache anymore, if I Include the
apache-modperl.conf file in httpd.conf. I get the following error:

Starting web server: apache[Wed Oct 8 15:04:55 2003] [error] Unknown
exception abbreviation ‘compilation_error’ at
/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 91.
BEGIN failed–compilation aborted at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Interp.pm
line 19.
Compilation failed in require at
/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 255.
BEGIN failed–compilation aborted at
/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 255.
Compilation failed in require at
/usr/share/request-tracker3/libexec/webmux.pl line 45.
BEGIN failed–compilation aborted at
/usr/share/request-tracker3/libexec/webmux.pl line 51.
Compilation failed in require at (eval 7) line 1.

All information welcome!

Greetings,

Marco Davids

2

[…]

I run an unstable Debian/Linux and apt-gettet request-tracker3 today
(version 3.0.4-4). I can’t start Apache anymore, if I Include the
apache-modperl.conf file in httpd.conf. I get the following error:

Starting web server: apache[Wed Oct 8 15:04:55 2003] [error] Unknown
exception abbreviation ‘compilation_error’ at
/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 91.
BEGIN failed–compilation aborted at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Interp.pm
line 19.
Compilation failed in require at
/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 255.
BEGIN failed–compilation aborted at
/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 255.
Compilation failed in require at
/usr/share/request-tracker3/libexec/webmux.pl line 45.
BEGIN failed–compilation aborted at
/usr/share/request-tracker3/libexec/webmux.pl line 51.
Compilation failed in require at (eval 7) line 1.

[…]

I may be able to only address part of your problem.

I just completed an initial installation on a Debian testing/unstable
system (2.4.21-5-686-smp). When I went the apt-get route, I clearly noted
that the install was incomplete, with several essential components missing
(namely most of /opt/rt3).

Consequently, I did a manual install after downloading the source and
configuring according to the README and Draft Manual[1]. It is absolutely
necessary to run the perl sbin/rt-test-dependencies part, which I don’t
believe the apt-get process can fully handle. It is unlikely, if you have
not used RT before (I had not) that the dependencies will be fully met.
cpan is your friend here.

I used the perl sbin/rt-test-dependencies thingy and piped that to grep
for MISSING, as it saves you the time of wading through the verbose output
of the script.

Hope this helps somehow.

Simon

  1. http://bestpractical.com/rt/draftmanual.pdf

Simon J. Hernandez | http://people.w3.org/simon/ | simon@w3.org
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) http://www.w3.org
MIT CS & AI Laboratory (CSAIL) 200 Technology Square NE43-340
Cambridge, MA 02139-3579 USA Voice: +1.617.253.2920 Fax: +1.617.258.5999

3

[…]

I run an unstable Debian/Linux and apt-gettet request-tracker3 today
(version 3.0.4-4). I can’t start Apache anymore, if I Include the
apache-modperl.conf file in httpd.conf. I get the following error:

Starting web server: apache[Wed Oct 8 15:04:55 2003] [error] Unknown
exception abbreviation ‘compilation_error’ at
/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 91.

I may be able to only address part of your problem.

I just completed an initial installation on a Debian testing/unstable
system (2.4.21-5-686-smp). When I went the apt-get route, I clearly noted
that the install was incomplete, with several essential components missing
(namely most of /opt/rt3).

Now I am puzzled. I apt-getted request-tracker version 2 form the Debian
unstable distribution, then removed it again, apt-getted request-tracker3
again and now it seems to work…

I am not sure though if this is the cause of the solution, because I also
did a lot of other things in an attempt to fix the problem.

Marco

4

Simon J. Hernandez wrote:

I may be able to only address part of your problem.

I just completed an initial installation on a Debian testing/unstable
system (2.4.21-5-686-smp). When I went the apt-get route, I clearly noted
that the install was incomplete, with several essential components missing
(namely most of /opt/rt3).

This is untrue. What the request-tracker3 package does to puzzle old
time users though, is fitting rt3 into the FHS. So, we have
configuration data in /etc/request-tracker3, the standard components in
/usr/share/request-tracker3, and local stuff is in
/usr/local/share/request-tracker3. Also note that the ‘request-tracker’
package is not the ‘request-tracker3’ package. Also, the
‘request-tracker3’ package is only available for debian/unstable.

The request-tracker3 package also has the right set of dependencies. I
did not need to install anything besides mysql4, but that is pecause the
debian package defaults to postgresql.

Regards,
Harald

5

Harald Wagener wrote:

‘request-tracker3’ package is only available for debian/unstable.

Not true; it’s also in testing.

6

Phil Homewood wrote:

Harald Wagener wrote:

‘request-tracker3’ package is only available for debian/unstable.

Not true; it’s also in testing.

Ah, ok. Nice! In unstable, it was conflicting with perl-5.8.1 last time
I checked. But,with some of this week’s discussion in mind, this seems
to be correct.
Regards,
Harald

7

Simon J. Hernandez wrote:

I may be able to only address part of your problem.

I just completed an initial installation on a Debian testing/unstable
system (2.4.21-5-686-smp). When I went the apt-get route, I clearly noted
that the install was incomplete, with several essential components missing
(namely most of /opt/rt3).

This is untrue.

This is untrue for you. It was true for me, but my comments were
incomplete.

I did look in /usr/share and /usr/local/share and found, for example,
that /usr/local/share/request-tracker3/{etc,html,lib,po} were all empty.

/usr/share/html seemed to have the necessary components, but
/usr/share/lib only contained webmux.pl, which is OK since I am using
mod_perl.

Not having any experience with this, and not seeing any documentation on
this point in the README or Draft Manual, my lame perceptions lead me to
my conclusions. Considering that many Linux users are Debian users as
well, it might be good to document this somewhere. I have perused the
archives, but don’t seem to see this noted. I could be wrong, but I
don’t.

So, my comments stand on my limited knowledge of the issue. .

What the request-tracker3 package does to puzzle old
time users though,

I am a first time user, so I was completely baffled. D’oh.

is fitting rt3 into the FHS. So, we have
configuration data in /etc/request-tracker3, the standard components in
/usr/share/request-tracker3, and local stuff is in
/usr/local/share/request-tracker3. Also note that the ‘request-tracker’
package is not the ‘request-tracker3’ package.

I apt-get’d the request-tracker3 package. I did not notice,
unfortunately, that the config stuff was in /etc/request-tracker3. My
boneheadedness there. Thanks for the pointer.

Also, the
‘request-tracker3’ package is only available for debian/unstable.

My system is pretty unstable :^)

The request-tracker3 package also has the right set of dependencies. I
did not need to install anything besides mysql4, but that is pecause the
debian package defaults to postgresql.

I have to disagree with this based on my limited experience. I did need
to install some mods that were not existant on my system prior to the
install. I should note, I did not have apache running on this machine
prior to the install, so several of the necessary modules would not likely
have been present.

Thank you for clarifying this issue. It will make it easier the next time
I do a fresh install on a new box.

Simon

Simon J. Hernandez | http://people.w3.org/simon/ | simon@w3.org
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) http://www.w3.org
MIT CS & AI Laboratory (CSAIL) 200 Technology Square NE43-340
Cambridge, MA 02139-3579 USA Voice: +1.617.253.2920 Fax: +1.617.258.5999

8

Simon J. Hernandez wrote:

I did look in /usr/share and /usr/local/share and found, for example,
that /usr/local/share/request-tracker3/{etc,html,lib,po} were all empty.

As they should be. /usr/local/foo is for, well, local mods.

/usr/share/html seemed to have the necessary components, but
/usr/share/lib only contained webmux.pl, which is OK since I am using
mod_perl.

It appears the fcgi handler is installed under
/usr/share/doc/request-tracker3/examples/ which seems a little odd.

my conclusions. Considering that many Linux users are Debian users as
well, it might be good to document this somewhere. I have perused the
archives, but don’t seem to see this noted. I could be wrong, but I
don’t.

The Debian package is not maintained by Best Practical, and
its FHS layout isn’t something controlled by Best Practical.
Sure, Debian is popular, and several RT developers even use
it themselves, but some use RedHat. Some use FreeBSD. Other
platforms are likely. Should Best Practical have to worry about
how every OS distributor/packager fiddles the filesystem layout?

I have to disagree with this based on my limited experience. I did need
to install some mods that were not existant on my system prior to the
install. I should note, I did not have apache running on this machine
prior to the install, so several of the necessary modules would not likely
have been present.

If the request-tracker3 package does not pull in all the required
dependencies, I’m sure the (Debian) package maintainer would love
to know about it. :slight_smile:
Phil Homewood, Systems Janitor, http://www.SnapGear.com
pdh@snapgear.com Ph: +61 7 3435 2810 Fx: +61 7 3891 3630
SnapGear - Custom Embedded Solutions and Security Appliances

9

Simon J. Hernandez wrote:

[…]

my conclusions. Considering that many Linux users are Debian users as
well, it might be good to document this somewhere. I have perused the
archives, but don’t seem to see this noted. I could be wrong, but I
don’t.

The Debian package is not maintained by Best Practical, and
its FHS layout isn’t something controlled by Best Practical.
Sure, Debian is popular, and several RT developers even use
it themselves, but some use RedHat. Some use FreeBSD. Other
platforms are likely. Should Best Practical have to worry about
how every OS distributor/packager fiddles the filesystem layout?

In a perfect world, yes. ;^)

I have to disagree with this based on my limited experience. I did need
to install some mods that were not existant on my system prior to the
install. I should note, I did not have apache running on this machine
prior to the install, so several of the necessary modules would not likely
have been present.

If the request-tracker3 package does not pull in all the required
dependencies, I’m sure the (Debian) package maintainer would love
to know about it. :slight_smile:

[…]

Hey, I didn’t get into this for the work. I just want a tool :^)

(I will make it a point to mention this (eventually).)

Simon

Simon J. Hernandez | http://people.w3.org/simon/ | simon@w3.org
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) http://www.w3.org
MIT CS & AI Laboratory (CSAIL) 200 Technology Square NE43-340
Cambridge, MA 02139-3579 USA Voice: +1.617.253.2920 Fax: +1.617.258.5999

10

Phil Homewood wrote:

Harald Wagener wrote:

‘request-tracker3’ package is only available for debian/unstable.

Not true; it’s also in testing.

Ah, ok. Nice! In unstable, it was conflicting with perl-5.8.1 last time
I checked. But,with some of this week’s discussion in mind, this seems
to be correct.

yep, the perl-modules 5.8.1 package provides all sorts of modules that
it didn’t use to and conflicts with all sorts of things which caused
chaos for a few days. Once the smoke cleared we understood what had to
be done and fixed our dependencies accordingly. All is now ok, as of
3.0.4-4. We just need to get the libapache-dbi-perl maintainer to
upgrade now so we can move to 3.0.6…

Stephen Quinney

11

I did look in /usr/share and /usr/local/share and found, for example,
that /usr/local/share/request-tracker3/{etc,html,lib,po} were all empty.

I’m glad to hear they were empty on install, otherwise it’s a bug!

/usr/share/html seemed to have the necessary components, but
/usr/share/lib only contained webmux.pl, which is OK since I am using
mod_perl.

Check:

/usr/share/request-tracker3
/usr/share/perl5/RT
/etc/request-tracker3

for the majority of the files. A useful command to see where stuff
went after install is:

dpkg -L request-tracker3

Not having any experience with this, and not seeing any documentation on
this point in the README or Draft Manual, my lame perceptions lead me to
my conclusions. Considering that many Linux users are Debian users as
well, it might be good to document this somewhere. I have perused the
archives, but don’t seem to see this noted. I could be wrong, but I
don’t.

The best way to start with any complex Debian package you’ve just
installed is to look for
/usr/share/doc//README.Debian. In this case the file:

/usr/share/doc/request-tracker3/README.Debian

which in turns points you to:

/usr/share/doc/request-tracker3/INSTALL.Debian.gz

which contains, an ever growing, detailed set of instructions on how
to install and configure RT3 on Debian (all comments, bugs,
improvements readily accepted)

I apt-get’d the request-tracker3 package. I did not notice,
unfortunately, that the config stuff was in /etc/request-tracker3. My
boneheadedness there. Thanks for the pointer.

On a Debian system packages nearly always put all the configuration
files into either /etc or /etc/ so it’s the best place
to look first.

The request-tracker3 package also has the right set of dependencies. I
did not need to install anything besides mysql4, but that is pecause the
debian package defaults to postgresql.

I have to disagree with this based on my limited experience. I did need
to install some mods that were not existant on my system prior to the
install. I should note, I did not have apache running on this machine
prior to the install, so several of the necessary modules would not likely
have been present.

Can you remember which modules were not already present? If they were
not there it is a bug that I would like to get fixed before
sarge/testing becomes sarge/stable.

I hope you have better luck with our Debian package of
request-tracker3 next time.

Thanks,

Stephen Quinney

12

/usr/share/html seemed to have the necessary components, but
/usr/share/lib only contained webmux.pl, which is OK since I am using
mod_perl.

Check:

/usr/share/request-tracker3
/usr/share/perl5/RT

I didn’t check the last one noted. Thanks for the hint.

/etc/request-tracker3

for the majority of the files. A useful command to see where stuff
went after install is:

dpkg -L request-tracker3

Check. I was lazy.

I did do dpkg -l request-tracker3. I noted that the output seemed to
reflect, to my limited understanding, that the install was somehow
unfinished (I think it reflected un or ui (if that’s possible)). My guess
is if I had taken a few minutes I could have easily corrected this.
Interestingly enough now, it reflects ii for 3.0.4-3. The running version
is 3.0.6.

Not having any experience with this, and not seeing any documentation on
this point in the README or Draft Manual, my lame perceptions lead me to
my conclusions. Considering that many Linux users are Debian users as
well, it might be good to document this somewhere. I have perused the
archives, but don’t seem to see this noted. I could be wrong, but I
don’t.

The best way to start with any complex Debian package you’ve just
installed is to look for
/usr/share/doc//README.Debian. In this case the file:

Yeah, I normally know better. I admittedly was rushed in this case as I
was trying to get this done in a couple of spare hours (a rare
occurrence).

The README.Debian file is, in fact, very useful.

/usr/share/doc/request-tracker3/README.Debian

which in turns points you to:

/usr/share/doc/request-tracker3/INSTALL.Debian.gz

which contains, an ever growing, detailed set of instructions on how
to install and configure RT3 on Debian (all comments, bugs,
improvements readily accepted)

I apt-get’d the request-tracker3 package. I did not notice,
unfortunately, that the config stuff was in /etc/request-tracker3. My
boneheadedness there. Thanks for the pointer.

On a Debian system packages nearly always put all the configuration
files into either /etc or /etc/ so it’s the best place
to look first.

Yep, and I knew this. Thus the boneheadedness.

[…]

… I did need
to install some mods that were not existant on my system prior to the
install. I should note, I did not have apache running on this machine
prior to the install, so several of the necessary modules would not likely
have been present.

Can you remember which modules were not already present? If they were
not there it is a bug that I would like to get fixed before
sarge/testing becomes sarge/stable.

Looking in /root/.cpan/build (I didn’t create a history file) I see the
following:

Apache-DBI-0.92
DBI-1.38
FCGI-0.67
WWW-Mechanize-0.60

There are a few other things, but they are mostly related to upgrades of
my local perl (CPAN) environment.

Keep in mind, I did this after I installed the 3.0.6 version. I don’t
know if the same issue would have surfaced with the 3.0.4-3 version
installed with apt-get. It would have probably worked fine if I had
been more patient.

I hope you have better luck with our Debian package of
request-tracker3 next time.

I am sure I will. Next time I will actually think before I go further.
Thanks to all of the patient replies I have received thus far, I am sure
the next install will be relatively trivial.

Thanks to all for your kind patience.

Simon

Simon J. Hernandez | http://people.w3.org/simon/ | simon@w3.org
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) http://www.w3.org
MIT CS & AI Laboratory (CSAIL) 200 Technology Square NE43-340
Cambridge, MA 02139-3579 USA Voice: +1.617.253.2920 Fax: +1.617.258.5999