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CGI::Fast(3)


NAME

  CGI::Fast - CGI Interface for Fast CGI


SYNOPSIS

      use CGI::Fast qw(:standard);
      $COUNTER = 0;
      while (new CGI::Fast) {
	  print header;
	  print start_html("Fast CGI Rocks");
	  print
	      h1("Fast CGI Rocks"),
	      "Invocation number ",b($COUNTER++),
	      " PID ",b($$),".",
	      hr;
	  print end_html;
      }


DESCRIPTION

  CGI::Fast is a subclass of the CGI object created by CGI.pm.	It is
  specialized to work well with the Open Market FastCGI standard, which
  greatly speeds up CGI scripts by turning them into persistently running
  server processes.  Scripts that perform time-consuming initialization
  processes, such as loading large modules or opening persistent database
  connections, will see large performance improvements.


OTHER PIECES OF THE PUZZLE

  In order to use CGI::Fast you'll need a FastCGI-enabled Web server.  Open
  Market's server is FastCGI-savvy.  There are also freely redistributable
  FastCGI modules for NCSA httpd 1.5 and Apache.  FastCGI-enabling modules
  for Microsoft Internet Information Server and Netscape Communications
  Server have been announced.

  In addition, you'll need a version of the Perl interpreter that has been
  linked with the FastCGI I/O library.	Precompiled binaries are available
  for several platforms, including DEC Alpha, HP-UX and SPARC/Solaris, or you
  can rebuild Perl from source with patches provided in the FastCGI
  developer's kit.  The FastCGI Perl interpreter can be used in place of your
  normal Perl without ill consequences.

  You can find FastCGI modules for Apache and NCSA httpd, precompiled Perl
  interpreters, and the FastCGI developer's kit all at URL:

    http://www.fastcgi.com/


WRITING FASTCGI PERL SCRIPTS

  FastCGI scripts are persistent: one or more copies of the script are
  started up when the server initializes, and stay around until the server
  exits or they die a natural death.  After performing whatever one-time
  initialization it needs, the script enters a loop waiting for incoming
  connections, processing the request, and waiting some more.

  A typical FastCGI script will look like this:

      #!/usr/local/bin/perl    # must be a FastCGI version of perl!
      use CGI::Fast;
      &do_some_initialization();
      while ($q = new CGI::Fast) {
	  &process_request($q);
      }

  Each time there's a new request, CGI::Fast returns a CGI object to your
  loop.	 The rest of the time your script waits in the call to new().  When
  the server requests that your script be terminated, new() will return
  undef.  You can of course exit earlier if you choose.	 A new version of the
  script will be respawned to take its place (this may be necessary in order
  to avoid Perl memory leaks in long-running scripts).

  CGI.pm's default CGI object mode also works.	Just modify the loop this
  way:

      while (new CGI::Fast) {
	  &process_request;
      }

  Calls to header(), start_form(), etc. will all operate on the current
  request.


INSTALLING FASTCGI SCRIPTS

  See the FastCGI developer's kit documentation for full details.  On the
  Apache server, the following line must be added to srm.conf:

      AddType application/x-httpd-fcgi .fcgi

  FastCGI scripts must end in the extension .fcgi.  For each script you
  install, you must add something like the following to srm.conf:

      FastCgiServer /usr/etc/httpd/fcgi-bin/file_upload.fcgi -processes 2

  This instructs Apache to launch two copies of file_upload.fcgi at startup
  time.


USING FASTCGI SCRIPTS AS CGI SCRIPTS

  Any script that works correctly as a FastCGI script will also work
  correctly when installed as a vanilla CGI script.  However it will not see
  any performance benefit.


EXTERNAL FASTCGI SERVER INVOCATION

  FastCGI supports a TCP/IP transport mechanism which allows FastCGI scripts
  to run external to the webserver, perhaps on a remote machine.  To
  configure the webserver to connect to an external FastCGI server, you would
  add the following to your srm.conf:

      FastCgiExternalServer /usr/etc/httpd/fcgi-bin/file_upload.fcgi -host sputnik:8888

  Two environment variables affect how the "CGI::Fast" object is created,
  allowing "CGI::Fast" to be used as an external FastCGI server.  (See "FCGI"
  documentation for "FCGI::OpenSocket" for more information.)

  FCGI_SOCKET_PATH
      The address (TCP/IP) or path (UNIX Domain) of the socket the external
      FastCGI script to which bind an listen for incoming connections from
      the web server.

  FCGI_LISTEN_QUEUE
      Maximum length of the queue of pending connections.

  For example:

      #!/usr/local/bin/perl    # must be a FastCGI version of perl!
      use CGI::Fast;
      &do_some_initialization();
      $ENV{FCGI_SOCKET_PATH} = "sputnik:8888";
      $ENV{FCGI_LISTEN_QUEUE} = 100;
      while ($q = new CGI::Fast) {
	  &process_request($q);
      }


CAVEATS

  I haven't tested this very much.


AUTHOR INFORMATION

  Copyright 1996-1998, Lincoln D. Stein.  All rights reserved.

  This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
  under the same terms as Perl itself.

  Address bug reports and comments to: lstein@cshl.org


BUGS

  This section intentionally left blank.


SEE ALSO

  CGI::Carp, CGI

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