=head1 NAME
MasonX::Apache2Handler - experimental (beta) Mason/mod_perl2 interface
=head1 SYNOPSIS
use MasonX::Apache2Handler;
my $ah = MasonX::Apache2Handler->new (..name/value params..);
...
sub handler {
my $r = shift;
$ah->handle_request($r);
}
=head1 DESCRIPTION
B<MasonX::Apache2Handler is experimental ( beta ) and
should only be used in a test environment.> The MasonX::Apache2Handler
module itself is a simple clone of Mason's HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler,
and, as such, seems to be solid. However the components used, mod_perl 2
and libapreq2, are currently under development each give a version
of the above warning.
If you are interested in moving to mod_perl 2 when it reaches production
status, I encourage you to try these modules in a test environment; your
feedback will help getting mod_perl 2 out the door. I have been using
this module on two live sites since mid-January 2004, with no problems.
MasonX::Apache2Handler was written to allow Mason to run in
a 'pure' mod_perl2/Apache2 environment using the mod_perl2 native
request structure as implemented by libapreq2.
This
is an unofficial release, not supported by the Mason group. If you
want to use this module in a testing environment, please address
problems, issues, comments, and improvements to me, not Mason.
When deciding to port Mason to mod_perl2 I took the approach to add
Module(s) rather than patching core Mason modules. Upon investigation
I discovered that all the Apache 'glue' code in Mason was contained in
HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler. Therefore, I renamed and modified that
module to create MasonX::Apache2Handler.
The actual changes I made can be found in the distribution in
B<diff/ApacheHandler.diff> ( made with 'diff -Naru' ... ).
As a result of my approach, you may install the normal Mason ( >= 1.25 ),
the modules in L</"PREREQUISITES"> below, and this module. After configuring
( see L</"CONFIGURATION"> below ), you're ready to play.
The Apache2Handler object links Mason to mod_perl2, running components in
response to HTTP requests. It is controlled primarily through
parameters to the new() constructor.
handle_request() is not a user method, but rather is called from the
HTML::Mason::handler() routine in handler.pl.
MasonX::Apache2Handler is a modified copy of the standard
HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler. Apache2Handler B<MUST> be used with mod_perl2.
You may, however, run Mason with Apache2/mod_perl2 without Apache2Handler
(see my rather dated mini-HOWTO at
L<http://beaucox.com/mason/mason-with-apmp2-mini-HOWTO.htm>), but you then
use use 'CGI' requests rather than the native
'mod_perl' requests.
The interface is the same as ApacheHandler's, Please refer to
L<HTML::Mason>, L<HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler>, and
L<http://masonhq.com/docs/manual/Admin.html>.
=head1 NAME CHANGE
I have changed module names and released them as of version 0.04
as perl Mason's request:
HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler2 =>
MasonX::Apache2Handler
MasonX::Request::WithApacheSession2 =>
MasonX::Request::WithApache2Session
These changes keep my modules out of the 'core' Mason name space.
Those of you who have installed my prior modules are encouraged to
install the new modules and make the necessary changes to the
configuration files and scripts.
=head1 '$r' IN 0.05
The '$r' passed to Mason pages has been changed from type
'Apache::Request' to 'Apache::RequestRec' to conform
to the parameter passed to mod_perl 2 handlers in version 0.05.
This B<WILL> break your Mason pages that currently use '$r'.
To get the corresponding 'Apache::Request' in your
pages under 0.05, do:
$rr = Apache::Request->new( $r );
$rr' is now an 'Apache::Request', while '$r' is
an 'Apache::RequestRec'.
There is a web page in B<eg/request-examiner.html> that displays
the type and interface provided by '$r' in your Mason pages. You
may want to try this page on your system. Further information may be found
on the mod perl site, specifically:
L<http://perl.apache.org/docs/2.0/user/porting/compat.html#Request_Object_Methods>
and
L<http://perl.apache.org/docs/2.0/api/Apache/RequestRec.html>.
=head1 PREREQUISITES
You must have the following packages installed:
perl => 5.8.0
mod_perl => 1.9910
HTML::Mason => 1.25
libapreq2 => 2.02-dev
Please refer to the packages' documentation for instructions.
=head1 WARNING: PERL 5.8.2
If you are using perl 5.8.2 you may get a series of errors
in the http/error_log such as:
Attempt to free unreferenced scalar: SV 0x405e6e78
at /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.2/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 160.
...
[Fri Jan 30 09:41:58 2004] [error] [client 207.175.219.202]
Attempt to free unreferenced scalar: SV 0x405e6e78
at /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.2/i686-linux-thread-multi/
Apache/Cookie.pm line 67.
Stack:
[/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.2/MasonX/Apache2Handler.pm:892]
[/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.2/MasonX/Apache2Handler.pm:801]
[/srv/www/perl/MyApache/Mason/Apache2Handler.pm:86]
[-e:0]
which may return a 500 Internal Server Error to the user.
There was a bug introduced in perl 5.8.2 and fixed in 5.8.3, which affects
some XS modules running under a threaded mpm mod_perl 2.0 (or any ithreads
perl application). The affected modules can be fixed, to avoid this problem,
by using the PERL_NO_GET_CONTEXT macro in the XS code (see the perlguts
manpage for more information). So you need to check whether a newer version of
the module is available. If not you need to upgrade to perl 5.8.3 or higher
and the problem will go away.
When I had these problems, I ended up
upgrading to 5.8.3 and B<recompiling EVERY CPAN module I use and
remaking mod_perl2>. You may have to do the same thing.
Perl 5.8.0 and 5.8.1 operate correctly,
the problem is manifested in 5.8.2.
=head1 FLUSH BUFFER AND REDIRECTS
I have 'subclassed' HTML::Mason::Request (as MasonX::Request2) and
HTML::Mason::Buffer (as MasonX::Buffer2) to change handling of buffer
flushing as per Johnathan Kupferer's suggestion (see
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=mason-devel&m=105337019427296&w=2). Basically
the buffer is flushed only if there is really anything to flush, which
clears the way for $m->redirect( $url );.
I have tested this change extensively and found it to be solid. You
may wish to uncomment the "print STDERR ..." statements in Burrer2 and
Request2 if you wish to see the flushing process at work (or you still
have redirect problems). The print STDERR's appear in the Apache log.
=head1 CONFIGURATION
Configuring your Mason system may be done in many different ways;
please refer to the Mason documentation, specifically, the Administrator's
manual at
L<http://masonhq.com/docs/manual/Admin.html>.
This section gives several sample configurations to get you started and
notes the special configuration parameters that are
B<required> for this module's operation with the native mod_perl2 interface.
All of the sample configuration files and scripts below can be
found in the B<eg/> subdirectory of this distribution.
=head2 All Configuration in the 'httpd.conf' File
The sample httpd.conf file may be found at B<eg/httpd-mason-simple.conf>.
You must, of course, change all path names below to suit your particular
installation.
First, load the necessary mod_perl2 modules:
LoadModule perl_module /usr/apache2/lib/apache/mod_perl.so
LoadModule apreq_module /usr/apache2/lib/apache/mod_apreq.so
LoadModule cgid_module /usr/apache2/lib/apache/mod_cgid.so
mod_perl2 is loaded as in the past. libapreg2 - the new mod_perl2-native
request and cookie interface is loaded next. cgid is the optional
CGI daemon module.
Next, load the modules your system requires:
PerlModule Apache2
PerlSwitches -I/usr/local/test/httpd/perl
PerlModule Apache::Request
PerlModule Apache::Cookie
...
'PerlModule' is the configuration file syntax for perl's 'use';
trim this list to suit your system (and conserve memory). The
'PerlSwitches' directive prepends the specified directory to
perl's @INC array;
Setup the perl directory for your site:
Alias /perl/ /usr/local/test/httpd/perl/
<Location /perl/>
SetHandler perl-script
PerlResponseHandler ModPerl::Registry
PerlOptions +ParseHeaders
Options +ExecCGI
</Location>
Now, configure Mason. First add the following perl variables
B<which are required> for the operation of Apache2Handler:
PerlSetVar _MasonUser wwwrun
PerlSetVar _MasonGroup nogroup
PerlSetVar _MasonDefaultDocumentRoot "/usr/local/test/httpd/htdocs"
'_MasonUser' and '_MasonGroup' specify the user/group under which
Apache runs; they B<must> be the same as specified int the normal
'User' and 'Croup' directives earlier in your configuration file
(this change was made necessary because $s->uid and $s->gid are
not supported in mod_perl2
- see L<http://perl.apache.org/docs/2.0/user/porting/compat.html#C__s_E_gt_uid_>).
'_MasonDefaultDocumentRoot' is required because the configuration
directives are not available during server startup in mod_perl2.
It should specify the 'DocumentRoot' directory specified earlier in
your configuration file.
You may (optionally) pre-load any modules your Mason modules may
require here - see
L<http://masonhq.com/docs/manual/Admin.html#external_modules>.
The '<Perl>...</Perl>' directives are used because
this modules must be loaded within the HTML::Mason::Commands name space.
<Perl>
{
package HTML::Mason::Commands;
use Apache::Const -compile => ':common';
...
}
</Perl>
Finally, here is an example of a virtual host:
Listen 12984
NameVirtualHost localhost:12984
# for general testing - default - on localhost
# site: bctest
<VirtualHost localhost:12984>
ServerName bctest.beaucox.com
DocumentRoot "/usr/local/test/httpd/htdocs/bctest"
PerlSetVar MasonCompRoot /usr/local/test/httpd/htdocs/bctest
PerlSetVar MasonDataDir /usr/local/test/httpd/mason/bctest
PerlSetVar MasonRequestClass MasonX::Request::WithApache2Session
PerlSetVar MasonSessionAllowInvalidId yes
PerlSetVar MasonSessionCookieName beaucox-bctest-cookie
PerlSetVar MasonSessionCookieDomain beaucox.com
PerlSetVar MasonSessionCookieExpires +7d
PerlSetVar MasonSessionClass Apache::Session::MySQL
PerlSetVar MasonSessionDataSource dbi:mysql:bctest_sessions
PerlSetVar MasonSessionUserName mysql
PerlSetVar MasonSessionPassword mysql
PerlSetVar MasonSessionLockDataSource dbi:mysql:bctest_sessions
PerlSetVar MasonSessionLockUserName mysql
PerlSetVar MasonSessionLockPassword mysql
PerlSetVar MasonSessionUseCookie yes
<FilesMatch "^_">
SetHandler perl-script
PerlResponseHandler MasonX::Apache2Handler
</FilesMatch>
<Directory "/usr/local/test/httpd/htdocs/bctest">
<FilesMatch "\.html$|\.htm$">
SetHandler perl-script
PerlResponseHandler MasonX::Apache2Handler
</FilesMatch>
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
In this example, the virtual host is using
MasonX::Request::WithApache2Session (note the '2') - hence the
'MasonSession...' directives. Either modify them
for your own use ( see L<MasonX::Request::WithApache2Session> and
L<MasonX::Request::WithApacheSession> or omit them
if you are not using the session module.
For mod_perl2 compatibility,
'PerlResponseHandler' is used instead of 'PerlHandler' - see
L<http://perl.apache.org/docs/2.0/user/porting/compat.html#C_PerlHandler_>.
=head2 Configuration with Scripts
In this example, you must manage the http.conf file and two
perl scripts; you gain superior flexibility in exchange for a little
elbow grease.
=head3 httpd.conf
Here are the relevant sections of the httpd.conf file
(the complete configuration file may be found at B<eg/httpd-mason.conf>):
LoadModule perl_module /usr/apache2/lib/apache/mod_perl.so
LoadModule apreq_module /usr/apache2/lib/apache/mod_apreq.so
LoadModule cgid_module /usr/apache2/lib/apache/mod_cgid.so
Nothing new here, same as the configuration-file-only example above;
PerlSetEnv MOD_PERL_INC "/usr/local/test/httpd/perl"
PerlRequire "/usr/local/test/httpd/conf/startup2.pl"
The 'PerlSetEnv' directive is used so the startup scripts can be written
without any 'hard' path dependences. The 'PerlRequire' runs the actual startup
script whose name and location are of your choosing.
Alias /perl/ /usr/local/test/httpd/perl/
<Location /perl/>
SetHandler perl-script
PerlResponseHandler ModPerl::Registry
PerlOptions +ParseHeaders
Options +ExecCGI
</Location>
Setup you perl directory as shown in the previous section.
Now to Mason:
PerlSetVar _MasonUser wwwrun
PerlSetVar _MasonGroup nogroup
PerlSetVar _MasonDefaultDocumentRoot "/usr/local/test/httpd/htdocs"
The same as described in the previous section.
PerlSetEnv MASON_COMP_ROOT "/usr/local/test/httpd/htdocs"
PerlSetEnv MASON_DATA_ROOT "/usr/local/test/httpd/mason"
PerlSetEnv MASON_SITES "bctest:masontest"
We will see below how thews environment variables are used int the scripts
below.
Finally, here is a sample virtual host:
Listen 12984
NameVirtualHost localhost:12984
# for general testing - default - on localhost
<VirtualHost localhost:12984>
ServerName bctest.beaucox.com
DocumentRoot "/usr/local/test/httpd/htdocs/bctest"
PerlSetVar mason_site 'bctest'
<FilesMatch "^_">
SetHandler perl-script
PerlResponseHandler MyApache::Apache2Handler
</FilesMatch>
<Directory "/usr/local/test/httpd/htdocs/bctest">
<FilesMatch "\.html$|\.htm$">
SetHandler perl-script
PerlResponseHandler MyApache::Apache2Handler
</FilesMatch>
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
Much like the virtual host described in the previous section, but
much of the 'guts' are now filled in by the handler script below.
Remember to specify 'PerlResponseHandler'.
=head3 startup2.pl
Here is the sample 'startup2.pl' script
(found at B<eq/startup2.pl>):
use Apache2 ();
use lib ( $ENV{MOD_PERL_INC} );
use Apache::Request ();
use Apache::Cookie ();
use CGI ();
use CGI::Cookie ();
...
use MyApache::Apache2Handler ();
1;
Again, the modules you require are pre-loaded ('use'), and the
the perl @INC array is adjusted. See how the use of the
environment variable 'MOD_PERL_INC' - set in the httpd.conf -
allows this script to be path-independent.
If you execute ('use') your Handler script here, the Apache2Handler
request objects are pre-loaded; otherwise they are loaded 'on the fly'.
Refer the the discussion at
L<http://masonhq.com/docs/manual/Admin.html#wrappers_with_virtual_hosts>.
=head3 Apache2Handler.pm
Here is the sample 'MyApache::Apache2Handler.pm' script. The full
sample script may be found at B<eq/Apache2Handler.pm>. It should be
installed under B<your-perl-directory/Apache2Handler> on your system;
i.e:,
in my case at: B</usr/local/test/httpd/perl/Apache2Handler.pm>.
#!/usr/bin/perl
package MyApache::Apache2Handler;
use strict;
use warnings;
Pretty standard perl startup stuff.
use Apache2 ();
use lib ( $ENV{MOD_PERL_INC} );
use Apache::Request ();
use Apache::Cookie ();
use CGI ();
use CGI::Cookie ();
Includes you may need;
our %ah = ();
This is a global hash that will hold, one for each site,
Apache2Handler's.
# Mason w/Apache support
use MasonX::Apache2Handler;
# Modules my components will use
{
package HTML::Mason::Commands;
use Apache::Const -compile => ':common';
...
}
Any includes you may want to pre-load for your Mason components.
setup_sites();
This line, if present, will pre-load all the Apache2Handler's (one for
each site) at server startup time.
Now to handle the request:
# actual request handler
sub handler
{
my ($r) = @_;
# DON'T allow internal components (starting with '_')
my $fn = $r->filename;
if ($fn =~ m{.*/(.*)} && $1 && $1 =~ /^_/) {
my $rip = $r->connection->remote_ip;
$r->log_error ("attempt to access internal component: $fn remote ip: $rip\n");
return Apache::NOT_FOUND;
}
A check to prevent outside direct access to internal Mason components -
in my system, components that start with '_'.
# allow only text/xxx content type
return -1 if $r->content_type && $r->content_type !~ m|^text/|i;
Skip Mason processing for non-text items (images, binary downloads, etc.)
# find site and handler: dispatch request
my $site = $r->dir_config ('mason_site');
unless( $site ) {
$r->log_error ("no 'mason_site' specified\n");
return Apache::NOT_FOUND;
}
If there is no site configured with 'PserSetVar mason_site xxx',
you have boo-boo-ed and the request is logged and rejected. You could
force a more noticeable alert, i.e. an email, if you really want to
know when this happens, but you really should be able to prevent these
error with adequate testing.
unless( $ah{$site} ) {
setup_sites( $r, $site );
unless( $ah{$site} ) {
$r->log_error ("no 'ah' found for 'mason_site' $site\n");
return Apache::NOT_FOUND;
}
}
Here we check the the Apache2Handler is loaded, and load it if not; Of that
does not work, you've got problems.
my $status = $ah{$site}->handle_request ($r);
Finally! The request is sent on it's way.
# special error handling here (email, etc...)
You could check the status here and do extra fancy error reporting here...
$status;
}
Return the status and exit.
Now, here is where the Apache2Handler requests are loaded, either
at startup time or on the fly.
# set up an Apache2Handler for each site
sub setup_sites
{
my ( $r, $site ) = shift;
my @asites = ();
if( $site ) {
push @asites, $site;
} else {
my $sites = $ENV{MASON_SITES};
return unless $sites;
@asites = split /:/, $sites;
}
for my $site( @asites ) {
next if $ah{$site};
my @args =
(
args_method => "mod_perl",
comp_root => $ENV{MASON_COMP_ROOT}."/$site",
data_dir => $ENV{MASON_DATA_ROOT}."/$site",
error_mode => 'output',
request_class =>'MasonX::Request::WithApache2Session',
session_allow_invalid_id => 'yes',
...
);
push @args, $r if $r;
$ah{$site} = new MasonX::Apache2Handler( @args );
}
}
1;
If your sites Apache2Handlers are being setup 'on-the-fly', this
method is called as 'setup_sites( $r, $site );'. Only that site
is loaded.
On the other hand, if the sites are all loaded at server start as
follows:
The 'MASON_SITES' environment variable, set in the httpd.conf
file, consists of a list of site names separated by ':'s. This trick
is used so the sites served may be changed in one place, the
httpd.conf file, without having to update this script too
Note the use of the native mod_perl2 args_method: 'mod_perl'.
Again, the environment variables set int the httpd.conf file are used her
to keep this script path-independent.
This example is using the session subclass 'MasonX::With::Apache2Session';
modify or omit these statements.
=head1 STRESS TESTING
To see if your server works under load, you must do some stress testing.
There are several Apache Test modules on CPAN, but if you are lazy
( like me ), you may
try my simple test scripts.
=head2 stress.pl
A stress script is in the MasonX::Apache2Handler distribution at
B<scripts/stress.pl>. This simple perl script, which requires LWP::UserAgent
in libwww, repeatedly gets a uri on you server and checks the result.
Usage:
perl stress.pl <uri-to-a-page-on-your-test-server> [repeat-count]
If the repeat count is missing, the test is endless ( stop it with
^C ).
=head2 httpd-mem,pl
To check for memory leaks, try B<scripts/httpd-mem.pl>. This script finds
all the processes running for your server and totals the memory usage
using the '/proc/<pid>/status' pseudo-files. This script will only work on
systems with the GNU-Linux /proc file system.
Usage:
perl httpd-mem.pl [id-for-ps]
Where [id-for-ps] is a string to select your test server pids from the
ps aux command. The default is 'httpd -k'.
Every two seconds a line is
printed to the terminal and B<httpd-mem.log>:
VmData VmExe VmLck VmLib VmRSS VmSize VmStk
4297576 32248 0 524944 1479132 4904200 2784
4297576 32248 0 524944 1479132 4904200 2784
4297576 32248 0 524944 1479132 4904200 2784
...
Check this output when running the stress test above to see if anything
( especially VmSize ) is growing; that _may_ indicate a memory leak.
=head1 mod_perl2 ALL THE WAY
If you want to take the next step, making a pure mod_perl2 site,
you should:
=over 4
=item remake and install mod_perl
Disable global mod_perl backward compatibility by adding the
'MP_COMPAT_1X=0' flag to 'Makefile.PL':
perl Makefile.PL MP_APXS=/where/ever MP_COMPAT_1X=0
This flag is ON by default.
=item grep your site for Apache::compat
Remove 'use Apache::compat' from all of your mod_perl modules; you may
have to rework them to bring them up to speed. Stas and the guys
at mod_perl have several excellent 1.x => 2.x porting documents,
my personal favorite being
L<http://perl.apache.org/docs/2.0/user/porting/compat.html>.
=item update your http.conf file
Once you have removed 1.x backward compatibility, you must bring
your http.conf directives up to mod_perl2 standards as shown in
L<http://perl.apache.org/docs/2.0/user/porting/compat.html#Configuration_Files_Porting>.
Some of the changes you will have to make are:
PerlHandler => PerlResponseHandler.
PerlSendHeader On => PerlOptions +ParseHeaders
PerlSendHeader Off => PerlOptions -ParseHeaders
PerlSetupEnv On => PerlOptions +SetupEnv
PerlSetupEnv Off => PerlOptions -SetupEnv
PerlTaintCheck => PerlSwitches -T
PerlWarn => PerlSwitches -w
PerlFreshRestart => is a mod_perl 1.0 legacy => see docs.
=back
I found this to be a snap, but then I started coding with mod_perl2;
I suppose the port could be a bear if you have a mature site with lots of
1.x modules.
=head1 DON'T
=over 4
=item Mix and Match normal MasonX::... modules with MasonX::Apache2Handler
Any MasonX... modules that use ( subclass ) HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler
will B<NOT> work in your pure mod_perl2 environment. Let me know ( or
change them yourself ) when you want to use one I have not changed.
=item Bother the Mason developers with questions, etc.
MasonX::Apache2Handler is unofficial and was written and is supported
by me, not the Mason developers. Talk to me ( <mason@beaucox.com> ).
=back
=head1 DO
=over 4
=item Try it!
Setup a test server and see if the pure mod_perl2 Mason works for you.
=item Tell me what you think
Let me know your reaction to this effort. I welcome comments, suggestions,
bug reports, and, yes, even mild flames.
=back
=head1 TODO
=over 4
=item Build tests
Currently, there are no 'real' tests defined in 'make test'. I
plan to design and build some. Until then, the testing is
left to you. Sorry :)
=item Continue to monitor my web site for problems
I am running this module at my web site ( L<http://beaucox.com> ). I
am continually monitoring the site logs and memory usage to catch
and correct any bugs I find.
=item Investigate Other MasonX:: modules that may have to be converted
The MasonX:: modules that currently tie to ApacheHandler must be reworked
to operate with Apache2Handler; I will attack those on demand. Please
let me know.
=back
=head1 A COMPLETELY OT COMMENT ON 'MasonSessionCookieDomain'
As an aside, I have found that some browsers, mainly Mozilla, cannot
cope with the leading 'dot' in the '-domain' parameter sent in the
'Set-Cookie' header (you specify the '-domain' in the
'MasonSessionCookieDomain' configuration directive or the
'session_cookie_domain' parameter in your handler). I suggest you
leave it out, i.e. change:
.beaucox.com
to:
beaucox.com
This makes Mozilla happy and works on the other browsers I have
tested (IE, Konqueror).
=head1 BUGS
Too early to tell; they are bound to come in as people give it a try.
=head1 AUTHOR
Beau E. Cox <mason@beaucox.com> L<http://beaucox.com>.
The real authors (I just made mod_perl2 changes) are the Mason crew, including:
Jonathan Swartz <swartz@pobox.com>,
Dave Rolsky <autarch@urth.org>,
Ken Williams <ken@mathforum.org>.
Version 0.05 as of April 13, 2004.
=head1 SEE ALSO
My documents, including:
L<MasonX::Apache2Handler|Apache2Handler>,
L<MasonX::Request::WithApache2Session|WithApache2Session>,
L<MasonX::Request::WithMulti2Session|WithMulti2Session>,
Original Mason documents, including:
L<HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler|ApacheHandler>,
L<MasonX::Request::WithApacheSession|WithApacheSession>,
L<MasonX::Request::WithMultiSession|WithMultiSession>.
Also see the Mason documentation at L<http://masonhq.com/docs/manual/>.