Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C

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. 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.

Preface 1. Server-Side Programming with Apache Web Programming Then and Now The Apache Project The Apache C and Perl APIs Ideas and Success Stories 2. A First Module Preliminaries Directory Layout Structure Installing mod_perl "Hello World" with the Perl API "Hello World" with the C API Instant Modules with Apache::Registry Troubleshooting Modules 3. The Apache Module Architecture and API How Apache Works The Apache Life Cycle The Handler API Perl API Classes and Data Structures 4. Content Handlers Content Handlers as File Processors Virtual Documents Redirection Processing Input Apache::Registry Handling Errors Chaining Content Handlers Method Handlers 5. Maintaining State Choosing the Right Technique Maintaining State in Hidden Fields Maintaining State with Cookies Protecting Client-Side Information Storing State at the Server Side Storing State Information in SQL Databases Other Server-Side Techniques 6. Authentication and Authorization Access Control, Authentication, and Authorization Access Control with mod_perl Authentication Handlers Authorization Handlers Cookie-Based Access Control Authentication with the Secure Sockets Layer 7. Other Request Phases The Child Initialization and Exit Phases The Post Read Request Phase The URI Translation Phase The Header Parser Phase Customizing the Type Checking Phase Customizing the Fixup Phase The Logging Phase Registered Cleanups Handling Proxy Requests Perl Server-Side Includes Subclassing the Apache Class 8. Customizing the Apache Configuration Process Simple Configuration with the PerlSetVar Directive The Apache Configuration Directive API Configuring Apache with Perl Documenting Configuration Files 9. Perl API Reference Guide The Apache Request Object Other Core Perl API Classes Configuration Classes The Apache::File Class Special Global Variables, Subroutines, and Literals 10. C API Reference Guide, Part I Which Header Files to Use? Major Data Structures Memory Management and Resource Pools The Array API The Table API Processing Requests Server Core Routines 11. C API Reference Guide, Part II Implementing Configuration Directives in C Customizing the Configuration Process String and URI Manipulation File and Directory Management Time and Date Functions Message Digest Algorithm Functions User and Group ID Information Routines Data Mutex Locking Launching Subprocesses A. Standard Noncore Modules B. Building and Installing mod_perl C. Building Multifile C API Modules D. Apache:: Modules Available on CPAN E. Third-Party C Modules F. HTML::Embperl-Embedding Perl Code in HTML