Ok, removed. Thank you very much for the in-depth replies. It is very useful. Unfortunately any variable-reading continues to elude me. But I really appreciate all the help!
well, it sounds like you are having a larger problem that just mod_ssl-based variables.
since you mention you're interested in learning... :)
if you really want to track this down you could start from the beginning, meaning a bare bones server and a bare bones mod_perl content handler that merely iterates over %ENV and $r->subprocess_env() (see the do() method from Apache::Table)
this kind of bare bones thing used to be a pain, but with Apache-Test, it has gotten _lots_ easier. you can find Apache-Test on CPAN
http://search.cpan.org/CPAN/authors/id/S/ST/STAS/Apache-Test-1.01.tar.gz
you can look at some of the SSL tests in the Perl-Framework
http://cvs.apache.org/viewcvs.cgi/httpd-test/perl-framework/
to see how they use Apache-Test to test SSL based things. for instance env.t tests basic environment setting for SSL connections - you can use that as the starting point for writing tests for your own stuff.
or you can even download the Perl framework from
http://httpd.apache.org/test/
and run the ssl tests to make sure you're server is configured properly.
just some advice, and you certainly don't need to go through all the effort of reading, setting up the test environment, etc. however, once you get Apache-Test set up it will make your module development much, much easier, and you'll be able to pinpoint exactly where things go wrong much easier.
some basic explanations and pointers to other docs can be found here
http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2003/05/22/testing.html
HTH
--Geoff
