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most of these modules are continually evolving, the moment this book is published much of the information in it will be out of date.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