=head1 NAME
Configuring mod_perl 2.0 for Win32
=head1 Description
This document discusses how to configure mod_perl 2.0.
=head1 Configuration
Add this line to F<C:/Apache2/conf/httpd.conf>:
LoadModule perl_module modules/mod_perl.so
Be sure that the path to your Perl binary (eg, F<C:/Perl/bin>) is in
your C<PATH> environment variable. This can be done either by
editing F<C:\AutoExec.bat>, if present, or through the
I<Environment Variables> option of the I<Advanced> tab of the
I<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 F<httpd.conf>, before loading F<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 F<C:/Apache2/conf/extra.pl> is
use ModPerl::Util ();
use Apache2::RequestRec ();
use Apache2::RequestIO ();
use Apache2::RequestUtil ();
use Apache2::ServerRec ();
use Apache2::ServerUtil ();
use Apache2::Connection ();
use Apache2::Log ();
use Apache2::Const -compile => ':common';
use APR::Const -compile => ':common';
use APR::Table ();
use Apache2::compat ();
use ModPerl::Registry ();
use CGI ();
1;
C<Apache2::compat> is used to provide backwards compatibility
with mod_perl 1.0. C<ModPerl::Registry>, named so as not to conflict
with C<Apache::Registry> of mod_perl 1.0, is used for registry
scripts.
=head1 Registry scripts
Using C<ModPerl::Registry> to speed up cgi scripts may be done as
follows. Create a directory, for example, F<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 I<Content-type> header. Next, insert in
F<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 C<PerlOptions +ParseHeaders> directive is needed when the script
sends the header (in mod_perl 1.0, this was given as C<PerlSendHeader
ON)>.
As an illustration of how mod_perl 2.0 addresses the issues raised in
the discussion of issues in L<multithread
win32|docs::1.0::os::win32::multithread> concerning the threading
limitations of mod_perl 1.0 on Win32, consider the C<printenv> script
above with the C<sleep(10)> line uncommented. Using the Apache
benchmarking tool C<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 C<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.
=head1 Hello World
As you will discover, there is much to mod_perl beyond simple speed-up
of cgi scripts. Here is a simple I<Hello, World> example that
illustrates the use of mod_perl as a content handler. Create a file
F<Hello.pm> as follows:
package Apache2::Hello;
use strict;
use Apache2::RequestRec (); # for $r->content_type
use Apache2::RequestIO (); # for $r->puts
use Apache2::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 Apache2::Const::OK;
}
1;
and save it in, for example, the F<C:/Perl/site/lib/Apache2/>
directory. Next put the following directives in
F<C:/Apache2/conf/httpd.conf>:
PerlModule Apache2::Hello
<Location /hello>
SetHandler modperl
PerlResponseHandler Apache2::Hello
</Location>
With this, calls to
http://localhost/hello
will use C<Apache2::Hello> to deliver the content.
=head1 See Also
The directions for L<installing mod_perl 2.0 on
Win32|docs::2.0::os::win32::install>, the L<mod_perl
documentation|docs::index>, L<http://perl.apache.org/>,
L<http://httpd.apache.org/>, L<http://www.activestate.com/>,
and the
L<FAQs for mod_perl on Win32|docs::general::os::win32::faq>.
Help is also available through the archives of and subscribing to
the L<mod_perl mailing list|maillist::modperl>.
=head1 Maintainers
Maintainer is the person(s) you should contact with updates,
corrections and patches.
=over
=item *
Randy Kobes E<lt>randy@theoryx5.uwinnipeg.caE<gt>
=back
=head1 Authors
=over
=item *
Randy Kobes E<lt>randy@theoryx5.uwinnipeg.caE<gt>
=back
Only the major authors are listed above. For contributors see the
Changes file.
=cut
