lib/perl5/5.6.1/CGI/Fast.pm

   1 package CGI::Fast;
   2
   3 # See the bottom of this file for the POD documentation.  Search for the
   4 # string '=head'.
   5
   6 # You can run this file through either pod2man or pod2html to produce pretty
   7 # documentation in manual or html file format (these utilities are part of the
   8 # Perl 5 distribution).
   9
  10 # Copyright 1995,1996, Lincoln D. Stein.  All rights reserved.
  11 # It may be used and modified freely, but I do request that this copyright
  12 # notice remain attached to the file.  You may modify this module as you
  13 # wish, but if you redistribute a modified version, please attach a note
  14 # listing the modifications you have made.
  15
  16 # The most recent version and complete docs are available at:
  17 #   http://www.genome.wi.mit.edu/ftp/pub/software/WWW/cgi_docs.html
  18 #   ftp://ftp-genome.wi.mit.edu/pub/software/WWW/
  19 $CGI::Fast::VERSION='1.02';
  20
  21 use CGI;
  22 use FCGI;
  23 @ISA = ('CGI');
  24
  25 # workaround for known bug in libfcgi
  26 while (($ignore) = each %ENV) { }
  27
  28 # override the initialization behavior so that
  29 # state is NOT maintained between invocations
  30 sub save_request {
  31     # no-op
  32 }
  33
  34 # New is slightly different in that it calls FCGI's
  35 # accept() method.
  36 sub new {
  37      my ($self, $initializer, @param) = @_;
  38      unless (defined $initializer) {
  39          return undef unless FCGI::accept() >= 0;
  40      }
  41      return $CGI::Q = $self->SUPER::new($initializer, @param);
  42 }
  43
  44 1;
  45
  46 =head1 NAME
  47
  48 CGI::Fast - CGI Interface for Fast CGI
  49
  50 =head1 SYNOPSIS
  51
  52     use CGI::Fast qw(:standard);
  53     $COUNTER = 0;
  54     while (new CGI::Fast) {
  55         print header;
  56         print start_html("Fast CGI Rocks");
  57         print
  58             h1("Fast CGI Rocks"),
  59             "Invocation number ",b($COUNTER++),
  60             " PID ",b($$),".",
  61             hr;
  62         print end_html;
  63     }
  64
  65 =head1 DESCRIPTION
  66
  67 CGI::Fast is a subclass of the CGI object created by
  68 CGI.pm.  It is specialized to work well with the Open Market
  69 FastCGI standard, which greatly speeds up CGI scripts by
  70 turning them into persistently running server processes.  Scripts
  71 that perform time-consuming initialization processes, such as
  72 loading large modules or opening persistent database connections,
  73 will see large performance improvements.
  74
  75 =head1 OTHER PIECES OF THE PUZZLE
  76
  77 In order to use CGI::Fast you'll need a FastCGI-enabled Web
  78 server.  Open Market's server is FastCGI-savvy.  There are also
  79 freely redistributable FastCGI modules for NCSA httpd 1.5 and Apache.
  80 FastCGI-enabling modules for Microsoft Internet Information Server and
  81 Netscape Communications Server have been announced.
  82
  83 In addition, you'll need a version of the Perl interpreter that has
  84 been linked with the FastCGI I/O library.  Precompiled binaries are
  85 available for several platforms, including DEC Alpha, HP-UX and
  86 SPARC/Solaris, or you can rebuild Perl from source with patches
  87 provided in the FastCGI developer's kit.  The FastCGI Perl interpreter
  88 can be used in place of your normal Perl without ill consequences.
  89
  90 You can find FastCGI modules for Apache and NCSA httpd, precompiled
  91 Perl interpreters, and the FastCGI developer's kit all at URL:
  92
  93   http://www.fastcgi.com/
  94
  95 =head1 WRITING FASTCGI PERL SCRIPTS
  96
  97 FastCGI scripts are persistent: one or more copies of the script
  98 are started up when the server initializes, and stay around until
  99 the server exits or they die a natural death.  After performing
 100 whatever one-time initialization it needs, the script enters a
 101 loop waiting for incoming connections, processing the request, and
 102 waiting some more.
 103
 104 A typical FastCGI script will look like this:
 105
 106     #!/usr/local/bin/perl    # must be a FastCGI version of perl!
 107     use CGI::Fast;
 108     &do_some_initialization();
 109     while ($q = new CGI::Fast) {
 110         &process_request($q);
 111     }
 112
 113 Each time there's a new request, CGI::Fast returns a
 114 CGI object to your loop.  The rest of the time your script
 115 waits in the call to new().  When the server requests that
 116 your script be terminated, new() will return undef.  You can
 117 of course exit earlier if you choose.  A new version of the
 118 script will be respawned to take its place (this may be
 119 necessary in order to avoid Perl memory leaks in long-running
 120 scripts).
 121
 122 CGI.pm's default CGI object mode also works.  Just modify the loop
 123 this way:
 124
 125     while (new CGI::Fast) {
 126         &process_request;
 127     }
 128
 129 Calls to header(), start_form(), etc. will all operate on the
 130 current request.
 131
 132 =head1 INSTALLING FASTCGI SCRIPTS
 133
 134 See the FastCGI developer's kit documentation for full details.  On
 135 the Apache server, the following line must be added to srm.conf:
 136
 137     AddType application/x-httpd-fcgi .fcgi
 138
 139 FastCGI scripts must end in the extension .fcgi.  For each script you
 140 install, you must add something like the following to srm.conf:
 141
 142    AppClass /usr/etc/httpd/fcgi-bin/file_upload.fcgi -processes 2
 143
 144 This instructs Apache to launch two copies of file_upload.fcgi at
 145 startup time.
 146
 147 =head1 USING FASTCGI SCRIPTS AS CGI SCRIPTS
 148
 149 Any script that works correctly as a FastCGI script will also work
 150 correctly when installed as a vanilla CGI script.  However it will
 151 not see any performance benefit.
 152
 153 =head1 CAVEATS
 154
 155 I haven't tested this very much.
 156
 157 =head1 AUTHOR INFORMATION
 158
 159 Copyright 1996-1998, Lincoln D. Stein.  All rights reserved.
 160
 161 This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 162 it under the same terms as Perl itself.
 163
 164 Address bug reports and comments to: lstein@cshl.org
 165
 166 =head1 BUGS
 167
 168 This section intentionally left blank.
 169
 170 =head1 SEE ALSO
 171
 172 L<CGI::Carp>, L<CGI>
 173
 174 =cut