Appendix B. Apache Perl Modules

Many third-party modules have been written to extend mod_perl's core functionality. They may be distributed with the mod_perl source code, or they may be available from CPAN. In this chapter we will attempt to group these modules based on their functionality. Some modules will be discussed in depth, but others will be touched on only briefly.

Since most of these modules are continually evolving, the moment this book is published much of the information in it will be out of date. For this reason, you should refer to the modules' manpages when you start using them; that's where you will find the most up-to-date documentation.

We will consider modules in the following groups:

Development: Modules used mainly during the development process
Debugging: Modules that assist in code debugging
Control and monitoring: Modules to help you monitor the production server and take care of any problems as soon as they appear
Server configuration: Modules used in server configuration
Authentication: Modules used to facilitate authentication
Authorization: Modules used to facilitate authorization
Access: Modules used during the access-verification phase
Type handlers: Modules used as PerlTypeHandlers
Trans handlers: Modules used as PerlTransHandlers
Fixup Handlers: Modules used as PerlFixupHandlers
Generic content-generation phase: Generic modules that assist during the content-generation phase
Application-specific content generation phase: Non-general-purpose content generators
Database: Database-specific modules
Toolkits and framework for content generation and other phases: Mostly large toolkits and frameworks built on top of mod_perl
Output filters and layering: Modules that filter output from the content generation stage
Logging-phase handlers: Modules that assist during the logging stage
Core Apache: Modules that interface with core mod_perl
Miscellaneous: Modules that don't fit into any of the above categories