OK, so we are not done with it.I can't remember whether you modeled Cooker after PerlRun or RegistryNG. the current logic in RegistryNG represents a recent change and is my fault
The first thing I'd like to see is to have Apache::Registry and Apache::PerlRun agree on how they handle return codes, because they aren't the same. Once this happens, the Cooker will do the same.
As you have mentioned we have a problem with relying on return status. Because if the script doesn't use the mod_perl API, it normally may return absolutely anything, which may mess things up. So the safest approach, is to run the script, ignore its return value (not status!) and return OK or SERVER_ERROR based on whether the execution was error-free or not. Plus add the hack of returning of the new status if it was changed by the script. That's the approach that is taken by Apache::Registry and it seems that most people are happy with it. PerlRun does return the execution status, but when I first made the Cooker use this approach we immediately received a bug report, where the script wasn't doing the right thing.
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=apache-modperl-dev&m=101240123609773&w=2
basically, I was trying to fix pretty much what we're talking about but might have gotten it wrong.
we probably ought to just follow the 1.0 Registry formula, since I can't remember anybody complaining about it in recent memory. that is, if we're going to have one version - see my other email for thoughts on having two versions of Registry :)
--Geoff
