mod_perl logo
perl icon







previous page: mod_perl 2.0 Win32 Installation Instructionspage up: Win32 Platformsnext page: Frequently asked questions for mod_perl on Win32


Configuring mod_perl 2.0 for Win32











Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C

Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C

By Lincoln Stein, Doug MacEachern
Embedding Perl in HTML with Mason

Embedding Perl in HTML with Mason

By Dave Rolsky, Ken Williams
Practical mod_perl

Practical mod_perl

By Stas Bekman, Eric Cholet


Table of Contents

Description

This document discusses how to configure mod_perl 2.0.



TOP

Configuration

Add this line to C:/Apache2/conf/httpd.conf:

 LoadModule perl_module modules/mod_perl.so

Be sure that the path to your Perl binary (eg, C:/Perl/bin) is in your PATH environment variable. This can be done either by editing C:\AutoExec.bat, if present, or through the Environment Variables option of the Advanced tab of the System area of the Control Panel. Especially when running Apache as a service, you may also want to add the directive

 LoadFile "/Path/to/your/Perl/bin/perl5x.dll"

to httpd.conf, before loading mod_perl.so, to load your Perl dll.

You may also want to use a start-up script to load commonly used modules; this can be done with a directive as, eg,

 PerlRequire "C:/Apache2/conf/extra.pl"

where a sample start-up script C:/Apache2/conf/extra.pl is

  use Apache2 ();
  use ModPerl::Util ();
  use Apache::RequestRec ();
  use Apache::RequestIO ();
  use Apache::RequestUtil ();
  use Apache::Server ();
  use Apache::ServerUtil ();
  use Apache::Connection ();
  use Apache::Log ();
  use Apache::Const -compile => ':common';
  use APR::Const -compile => ':common';
  use APR::Table ();
  use Apache::compat ();
  use ModPerl::Registry ();
  use CGI ();
  1;

The Apache2 module is used to add to @INC the relevant directories underneath, eg, /Perl/site/lib/Apache2/ used when building mod_perl 2.0 with an MP_INST_APACHE2=1 option to perl Makefile.PL (the PPM packages discussed above were built this way). Apache::compat is used to provide backwards compatibility with mod_perl 1.0. ModPerl::Registry, named so as not to conflict with Apache::Registry of mod_perl 1.0, is used for registry scripts.



TOP

Registry scripts

Using ModPerl::Registry to speed up cgi scripts may be done as follows. Create a directory, for example, C:/Apache2/perl/, which will hold your scripts, such as

  ##  printenv -- demo CGI program which just prints its environment
  ##
  use strict;
  print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
  print "<HTML><BODY><H3>Environment variables</H3><UL>";
  foreach (sort keys %ENV) {
    my $val = $ENV{$_};
    $val =~ s|\n|\\n|g;
    $val =~ s|"|\\"|g;
    print "<LI>$_ = \"${val}\"</LI>\n";
  }
  #sleep(10);
  print "</UL></BODY></HTML>";

Note that Apache takes care of using the proper line endings when sending the Content-type header. Next, insert in C:/Apache2/conf/httpd.conf the following directives:

  Alias /perl/ "/Apache2/perl/"
  <Location /perl>
     SetHandler perl-script
     PerlResponseHandler ModPerl::Registry
     Options +ExecCGI
     PerlOptions +ParseHeaders
  </Location>

whereby the script would be called as

   http://localhost/perl/name_of_script

The PerlOptions +ParseHeaders directive is needed when the script sends the header (in mod_perl 1.0, this was given as PerlSendHeader ON).

As an illustration of how mod_perl 2.0 addresses the issues raised in the discussion of issues in multithread win32 concerning the threading limitations of mod_perl 1.0 on Win32, consider the printenv script above with the sleep(10) line uncommented. Using the Apache benchmarking tool ab of the Apache 2.0 Win32 distribution:

   C:\Apache2\bin> ab -n 5 -c 5 http://localhost/perl/printenv

to make 5 concurrent requests, we find the following results. For mod_perl 1.0/Apache 1.3:

  Server Software:        Apache/1.3.23
  Concurrency Level:      5
  Time taken for tests:   50.51972 seconds

while for mod_perl 2.0/Apache 2.0:

  Server Software:        Apache/2.0.45
  Concurrency Level:      5
  Time taken for tests:   13.729743 seconds

The dramatic difference is due to the fact that in Apache 1.3/mod_perl 1.0 a given request has to finish (taking essentially 10 seconds, due to the sleep(10) call) before the next request is processed, whereas on Apache 2.0/mod_perl 2.0 the requests are processed as they arrive.



TOP

Hello World

As you will discover, there is much to mod_perl beyond simple speed-up of cgi scripts. Here is a simple Hello, World example that illustrates the use of mod_perl as a content handler. Create a file Hello.pm as follows:

  package Apache::Hello;
  use strict;
  use Apache::RequestRec ();  # for $r->content_type
  use Apache::RequestIO ();   # for $r->puts
  use Apache::Const -compile => ':common';
  sub handler {
      my $r = shift;
      my $time = scalar localtime();
      my $package = __PACKAGE__;
      $r->content_type('text/html');
      $r->puts(<<"END");
  <HTML><BODY>
  <H3>Hello</H3>
  Hello from <B>$package</B>! The time is $time.
  </BODY></HTML>
  END
      return Apache::OK;
  }
  1;

and save it in, for example, the C:/Perl/site/lib/Apache2/Apache/ directory. Next put the following directives in C:/Apache2/conf/httpd.conf:

  PerlModule Apache::Hello
  <Location /hello>
    SetHandler modperl
    PerlResponseHandler Apache::Hello
  </Location>

With this, calls to

   http://localhost/hello

will use Apache::Hello to deliver the content.



TOP

See Also

The directions for installing mod_perl 2.0 on Win32, the mod_perl documentation, http://perl.apache.org/, http://take23.org/, http://httpd.apache.org/, http://www.activestate.com/, and the FAQs for mod_perl on Win32. Help is also available through the archives of and subscribing to the mod_perl mailing list.



TOP

Maintainers

Maintainer is the person(s) you should contact with updates, corrections and patches.



TOP

Authors

Only the major authors are listed above. For contributors see the Changes file.







TOP
previous page: mod_perl 2.0 Win32 Installation Instructionspage up: Win32 Platformsnext page: Frequently asked questions for mod_perl on Win32