


CGI::Fast(3p)    Perl Programmers Reference Guide   CGI::Fast(3p)


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 Mar-
       ket FastCGI standard, which greatly speeds up CGI scripts
       by turning them into persistently running server pro-
       cesses.  Scripts that perform time-consuming initializa-
       tion processes, such as loading large modules or opening
       persistent database connections, will see large perfor-
       mance 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 Commu-
       nications 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.  Pre-
       compiled 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 conse-
       quences.

       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



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CGI::Fast(3p)    Perl Programmers Reference Guide   CGI::Fast(3p)


       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 fol-
       lowing to srm.conf:

          AppClass /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



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CGI::Fast(3p)    Perl Programmers Reference Guide   CGI::Fast(3p)


       script.  However it will not see any performance benefit.

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
       the CGI::Carp manpage, the CGI manpage






































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