Apache/Perl Integration Project

★ wanayoo — archive 1999 http://perl.apache.org/

The Apache/Perl Integration Project

The Apache/Perl integration project brings together the full power of the Perl programming language and the Apache HTTP server.
With mod_perl it is possible to write Apache modules entirely in Perl. In addition, the persistent interpreter embedded in the server avoids the overhead of starting an external interpreter and the penalty of Perl start-up time.

This document is here to help you find out more about this project:

New: Popular Perl Complaints and Myths by Adam Pisoni

New! The mod_perl Garden Project has been started! Visit it at modperl.sourcegarden.org There is a new mailing list - see the info at the site!

NEW: Mod_perl's Developer's Guide - get started fast
NEW: List of world wide mod_perl mirror sites

Additional resources

Availability

The distribution of mod_perl and the Apache::* Perl modules are available on any CPAN site around the world. You'll find mod_perl releases under modules/by-module/Apache/. You may also download mod_perl from here, be sure to read the README and INSTALL documents first. You can also try the latest development version if you want to live on the edge. See also Source and Binary distributions. Windows NT/95/98 binaries can be downloaded from ftp://theoryx5.uwinnipeg.ca/pub/other/

There are several other Perl modules that you might wish to have installed, to take full advantage of mod_perl functionality. Provided you have Andreas König's CPAN.pm module, simply run:

cpan> install Bundle::Apache

This will fetch and install mod_perl and related packages for you all at once. Otherwise, once you've installed mod_perl see the listing by running perldoc Bundle::Apache.

Apache/Perl modules

It's a common misunderstanding that mod_perl is just a CGI replacement for Perl scripts, this is only a small part implemented by the Apache::Registry module. Apache modules written in mod_perl can do just about anything that apache modules written in C can.

There's plenty more Apache/Perl software you might be interested in, that is not part of the mod_perl distribution. This does not reflect the quality of these modules, it's just eaiser for us to maintain seperate packages. But, to make sure we're not duplicating efforts, the Apache/Perl module list keeps track of modules inside and outside the distribution, along with idea placeholders.

mod_auth_dbi

There are still refererences to old mod_auth_dbi links on the web, which hasn't been touched since April 21, 1996. This is unlikely to change, since what mod_auth_dbi was trying to do can be done better as a module that runs under mod_perl. For mod_auth_dbi functionality and then some, see the Apache::AuthenDBI module in Edmund Mergl's ApacheDBI package on CPAN. In other words, forget mod_auth_dbi, use mod_perl and ApacheDBI.

Additional resources

Quick guide for moving from CGI to mod_perl.

mod_perl_traps, common traps and solutions for mod_perl users.

The mod_perl plugin reference guide.

Frank Cringle's mod_perl FAQ.

Vivek Khera's mod_perl performance tuning guide.

There is an Epigone archive for the mod_perl mailing list thanks to Ken Williams.

More archives are available:

Links to mod_perl related FAQs

Joshua Chamas started some benchmarking

Visit the perlmonth.com - On-Line Perl magazine containing articles on various topics including a monthly column dedicated to mod_perl.

The Apache/Perl mailing list (modperl@apache.org) is available for mod_perl users and developers to share ideas, solve problems and discuss things related to mod_perl and the Apache::* modules. To subscribe to this list, send mail to modperl-subscribe@apache.org with the string "subscribe modperl" in the body. To unsubscribe send email to modperl-unsubscribe@apache.org, with body "unsubscribe youremailaddress".

A new mailing list for mod_perl advocacy issues, discussions about site and etc. Subscribe by sending a mail to advocacy-subscribe@perl.apache.org. The list address is advocacy@perl.apache.org. The archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/advocacy@perl.apache.org/.

If you have a comment or question about mod_perl that you feel is not appropriate for the public list, you may contact Doug MacEachern (dougm@perl.apache.org).

And finally some numbers: A monthly growth of mod_perl deployment (Click here for a bigger and better graph and more info about Netcraft's surveys)

Use of the Camel for Perl is a trademark of O'Reilly & Associates, and is used by permission.