Entries tagged mod_perl

This has been a rather random few days.

• I bought a steam-boat (not really; but close enough.)
• I fell in love with mod_perl

For those of you that don't know it mod_perl is an Apache module which embeds perl into your webserver.

You can use this to write extensions, handlers, and all kinds of fun things in pure perl.

Me? I just changed the beefy CGI script that I use to power a couple of my sites from being plain-CGI to being mod_perl-CGI - that means:

• The same perl engine & copy of my script stays in memory.
• I don't need the fork()/exec() overhead for each incoming rquest.

The downside is that I have to "/etc/init.d/apache2 reload" if I change my script, or any of my custom modules it uses. (I suspect this is something I can fix; I just don't know how yet :)

All that was possible, with zero changes to my applications as I use the CGI::Application framework - lucky? or planned? I'll let you decide ...

In terms of speedup I can now process about 100 requests a second, compared to 10. As reported by the Apache-benchmark tool. Cool.

ObFilm: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Tags: cgi::application, mod_perl, perl, perl, steam | 4 comments

I'd forgotten how sexy, useful, and great mod_perl is.

I've recently been struggling with a friend's CGI-based site, and after a minor effort we made it run with Apache::PerlRun:

Apache::PerlRun gives you the benefit of preloaded Perl and its modules. This module's handler emulates the CGI environment, allowing programmers to write scripts that run under CGI or mod_perl without any change

Because the site code wasn't very clean we had to make a lot of changes to get it working under Apache::Registry.

Apache::Registry is the Apache module allowing you to run CGI scripts very fast under mod_perl, by compiling all scripts once and then caching them in memory.

But the payoff is very noticeable - the site is now blazingly fast!

At some point I should write a guide to doing basic things with mod_perl. Mostly I guess the challenge is that you can write toy applications in moments, but to demonstrate how useful it is you need to apply it to something the reader is familiar with. Or demonstrate why the effort is worthwhile, given that it ties you to the Apache + mod_perl platform.

Any links to existing guides, or suggestions on how to approach the guide-writing in a beginner-friendly but still useful fashion are welcome.

(For what its worth I mostly write web applications using CGI::Application & jQuery these days.)

ObFilm: Pretty In Pink

Tags: cgi::application, jquery, mod_perl | 4 comments