Apache::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
       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

CAVEATS

       Apache::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.

       perl(1), mod_perl(3), Apache(3), Apache::Debug(3)

AUTHORS

       Andreas J. Koenig and Doug MacEachern