Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C [Paperback]

Lincoln Stein (Author), Doug MacEachern (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1999

Apache is the most popular web server on the Internet because it is free, reliable, and extensible. The availability of the source code and the modular design of Apache makes it possible to extend web server functionality through the Apache API.

For the most part, however, the Apache API has only been available to C programmers, and requires rebuilding the Apache server from source. mod_perl, the popular Apache module used primarily for enhanced CGI performance, changed all that by making the Apache API available to Perl programmers. With mod_perl, it becomes simple to develop Apache modules with Perl and install them without having to rebuild the web server.

Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C shows how to extend web server capabilities regardless of whether the programming language is Perl or C. The book explains the design of Apache, mod_perl, and the Apache API. It then demonstrates how to use them to perform for tasks like the following:

• Rewriting CGI scripts as Apache modules to vastly improve performance
• Server-side filtering of HTML documents, to embed special markup or code (much like SSI)
• Enhancing server log functionality
• Converting file formats on the fly
• Implementing dynamic navigation bars
• Incorporating database access into CGI scripts
• Customizing access control and authorization to block robots or to use an external database for passwords

The authors are Lincoln Stein and Doug MacEachern. Lincoln is the successful author of How to Set Up and Maintain a World Wide web Site and the developer of the widely used Perl CGI.pm module. Doug is a consultant and the creator of the innovative mod_perl Apache module.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C will allow you to enhance your Apache HTTP server in just about any way you'd like. Overall, it is an excellent book, and it has a lot of good information and terrific examples on everything from "Content Handlers" to customizing the Apache server configuration process.

It's quickly apparent that Lincoln Stein and Doug MacEachern spent valuable time writing this book considering the breadth of their subject and the depth they devote to it. The only downside to the book is that it's kind of hard to explain all of the API functionality without assuming a minimum level of competence from the audience. For that reason, this book might be a bit intimidating to novice programmers, but it really rewards you if you put time into it and tinker with things.

The book also works well as a source of ideas and inspiration for when you have to write your own server modules, and I'd recommend it if you want to customize your Apache server or speed up your Perl CGI programs. --Doug Beaver

About the Author

Doug MacEachern has been addicted to Perl and web servers since early 1994 when he was introduced to Plexus as a student employee at the University of Arizona. Soon after returning to his home town of Boston, Massachusetts, and entering the "real world," he discovered the Apache web server, and since early 1996, he has been gluing Perl into all its nooks and crannies. His day job has consisted of integrating various other technologies with the Web, including DCE, Kerberos, and GSSAPI, but Perl has been the only one he cannot let go of. Doug has continued as a developer disguised as a consultant since the start of 1998, spending most of his time between Auckland, New Zealand, and San Francisco, California, with time at home in Boston during the warmer months. Doug likes to spend his time away from software--far, far away, sailing on the ocean, diving below it, or simply looking at it from a warm, sandy beach where technology doesn't go much beyond thatched huts and blenders.

Lincoln Stein is an assistant investigator at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he develops databases and user interfaces for the Human Genome Project using the Apache server and its module API. He is the author of several books about programming for the Web, including The Official Guide to CGI.pm, How to Set Up and Maintain a Web Site, and Web Security: A Step-by-Step Reference Guide.

Product Details

• Paperback: 768 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1st edition (March 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156592567X
• ISBN-13: 978-1565925670
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #632,391 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #23 in Books > Computers & Technology > Web Development > Web Servers

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The essence of O'Reilly, April 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C (Paperback)

_Writing Apache Modules_ is quintessential O'Reilly. They have taken an arcane but potentially useful topic and produced a readable, entertaining, complete, and authoritative guide to it. The book's 700 pages are nearly 3/4 tutorial, which walks you through the writing of dozens of Apache modules, mostly in Perl. (C is covered in less detail, but it's all there.) You'll learn how to write modules for every Apache request stage. The Perl code is technically excellent and well-formatted, and they don't shy away from using useful CPAN modules. Database examples use the free and popular MySQL. No matter what kind of Apache module you're thinking about writing, this book will surely have an example that will get you started, and the reference section will keep you going. I have read literally dozens of O'Reilly books, and this is among the very best they've ever done.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A web programming marvel, October 17, 2001

By 

A Williams "honestpuck" (Neutral Bay, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C (Paperback)

I once read that you could not consider yourself a Unix Wizard until you had hand written a SendMail configure script once, and that no sane person ever did it twice.

The first part of that truism can perhaps be said of Web Wizards and Apache modules. Fortunately Apache modules are a little easier to write than Sendmail configurations and this book makes it easier still.

Let's not mince words. Perl scripts and other CGI software can quickly become performance bottlenecks on any server, no matter the size of your hardware. The most powerful way of fixing this is to fold a fair amount of that programming inside the server where the overhead of loading interpreters, libraries and code is already taken care of, not to mention you find yourself with much more power and control over the dialogue between server and browser.

Unfortunately writing to an API as large and complex as that in Apache is not always easy. MacEachern and Stein go to a great deal of trouble and exert a fair degree of skill in breaking the learning down into manageable chunks and explaining it all with a large number of examples.

This was the first book I read that really made me understand the process going on, both between the two pieces of software and inside Apache, when a page is requested. From there the book goes on to give you a marvellous understanding of how to write a module in Perl that fits into that process. Finally the last three chapters are excellent API reference guides, one on the Perl API and two on the C API, and an excellent index (which indexes every function in the API's as well as key concepts) make this a superb tool when you get down to writing.

The book does not cover using C in any where near as much depth, but the vital conceptual understanding required and explained in the Perl chapters means that once you have written a module in Perl I don't believe you will find it a problem to do it in C. I have to say though, as a C programmer I am yet to do it, I get so much performance out of a module in Perl I've yet to find the need.

I read this book before starting my first module and I have now written three. I would never have even contemplated the task before reading this volume. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get a full understanding of writing software for the web and anyone who wants a quantum leap in the performance of their web software. You will need some fair Perl skills and preferably written a few CGI scripts as this book does not cover the language skills required at all.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, February 3, 2000

By 

Vlad Khokholkov (Montreal, Canada.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C (Paperback)

Anybody who is interested in writing apache modules, MUST buy this book...

Its very straight forward, focuses only on things that are related to writing modules in both Perl and C, and has very useful functions index, you can look up a function or a constant, the book explains all methods and gives examples on how to use tricky ones...

I mostly use it for my C modules, and found very easy example of parsing ARGs of query strings, which is to my surprise not in apache lib...

I am impressed.