Apache::RegistrUser Contributed Perl DocumentaApache::Registry(3)NAMEApache::Registry - Run unaltered CGI scrips under mod_perl
SYNOPSIS
#in httpd.conf
Alias /perl/ /perl/apache/scripts/ #optional
PerlModule Apache::Registry
<Location /perl>
SetHandler perl-script
PerlHandler Apache::Registry
Options ExecCGI
</Location>
DESCRIPTION
URIs in the form of "http://www.host.com/perl/file.pl"
will be compiled as the body of a perl subroutine and exe
cuted. Each server process or 'child' will compile the
subroutine once and store it in memory. It will recompile
it whenever the file is updated on disk. Think of it as
an object oriented server with each script implementing a
class loaded at runtime.
The file looks much like a "normal" script, but it is com
piled or 'evaled' into a subroutine.
Here's an example:
my $r = Apache->request;
$r->content_type("text/html");
$r->send_http_header;
$r->print("Hi There!");
This module emulates the CGI environment, allowing pro
grammers to write scripts that run under CGI or mod_perl
without change. Existing CGI scripts may require some
changes, simply because a CGI script has a very short
lifetime of one HTTP request, allowing you to get away
with "quick and dirty" scripting. Using mod_perl and
Apache::Registry requires you to be more careful, but it
also gives new meaning to the word "quick"!
Be sure to read all mod_perl related documentation for
more details, including instructions for setting up an
environment that looks exactly like CGI:
print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
print "Hi There!";
Note that each httpd process or "child" must compile each
script once, so the first request to one server may seem
slow, but each request there after will be faster. If
your scripts are large and/or make use of many Perl mod
ules, this difference should be noticeable to the human
eye.
SECURITY
Apache::Registry::handler will preform the same checks as
mod_cgi before running the script.
ENVIRONMENT
The Apache function `exit' overrides the Perl core built-
in function.
The environment variable GATEWAY_INTERFACE is set to
"CGI-Perl/1.1".
COMMANDLINE SWITCHES IN FIRST LINE
Normally when a Perl script is run from the command line
or under CGI, arguments on the `#!' line are passed to the
perl interpreter for processing.
Apache::Registry currently only honors the -w switch and
will turn on warnings using the "$^W" global variable.
Another common switch used with CGI scripts is -T to turn
on taint checking. This can only be enabled when the
server starts with the configuration directive:
PerlTaintCheck On
However, if taint checking is not enabled, but the -T
switch is seen, Apache::Registry will write a warning to
the error_log.
DEBUGGING
You may set the debug level with the $Apache::Reg
istry::Debug bitmask
1 => log recompile in errorlog
2 => Apache::Debug::dump in case of $@
4 => trace pedantically
CAVEATSApache::Registry makes things look just the CGI environ
ment, however, you must understand that this *is not CGI*.
Each httpd child will compile your script into memory and
keep it there, whereas CGI will run it once, cleaning out
the entire process space. Many times you have heard
"always use "-w", always use "-w" and 'use strict'". This
is more important here than anywhere else!
Your scripts cannot contain the __END__ or __DATA__ token
to terminate compilation.
SEE ALSOperl(1), mod_perl(3), Apache(3), Apache::Debug(3)AUTHORS
Andreas J. Koenig and Doug MacEachern
2002-05-22 mod_perl-1.27 Apache::Registry(3)