This module provides a Perl interface the Apache API. It is here
mainly for mod_perl, but may be used for other Apache modules that
wish to embed a Perl interpreter. We suggest that you also consult
the description of the Apache C API at http://www.apache.org/docs/.
THE REQUEST OBJECT
The request object holds all the information that the server needs to
service a request. Apache Perl*Handlers will be given a reference to the
request object as parameter and may choose to update or use it in various
ways. Most of the methods described below obtain information from or
update the request object.
The perl version of the request object will be blessed into the Apache
package, it is really a "request_rec*" in disguise.
Apache->request([$r])
The Apache->request method will return a reference to the request object.
Perl*Handlers can obtain a reference to the request object when it
is passed to them via @_. However, scripts that run under
Apache::Registry, for example, need a way to access the request object.
Apache::Registry will make a request object available to these scripts
by passing an object reference to "Apache->request($r)".
If handlers use modules such as CGI::Apache that need to access
"Apache->request", they too should do this (e.g. Apache::Status).
$r->as_string
Returns a string representation of the request object. Mainly useful
for debugging.
$r->main
If the current request is a sub-request, this method returns a blessed
reference to the main request structure. If the current request is
the main request, then this method returns "undef".
$r->prev
This method returns a blessed reference to the previous (internal) request
structure or "undef" if there is no previous request.
$r->next
This method returns a blessed reference to the next (internal) request
structure or "undef" if there is no next request.
$r->last
This method returns a blessed reference to the last (internal) request
structure. Handy for logging modules.
$r->is_main
Returns true if the current request object is for the main request.
(Should give the same result as "!$r->main", but will be more efficient.)
$r->is_initial_req
Returns true if the current request is the first internal request,
returns false if the request is a sub-request or internal redirect.
$r->allowed($bitmask)
Get or set the allowed methods bitmask. This allowed bitmask should be
set whenever a 405 (method not allowed) or 501 (method not implemented)
answer is returned. The bit corresponding to the method number should be
et.
Apache provides a sub-request mechanism to lookup a uri or filename,
performing all access checks, etc., without actually running the
response phase of the given request. Notice, we have dropped the
"sub_req_" prefix here. The "request_rec*" returned by the lookup
methods is blessed into the Apache::SubRequest class. This way,
"destroy_sub_request()" is called automatically during
"Apache::SubRequest->DESTROY" when the object goes out of scope. The
Apache::SubRequest class inherits all the methods from the
Apache class.
$r->lookup_uri($uri)
my $subr = $r->lookup_uri($uri);
my $filename = $subr->filename;
unless(-e $filename) {
warn "can't stat $filename!\n";
}
$r->lookup_file($filename)
my $subr = $r->lookup_file($filename);
$subr->run
if($subr->run != OK) {
$subr->log_error("something went wrong!");
}
CLIENT REQUEST PARAMETERS
In this section we will take a look at various methods that can be used to
retrieve the request parameters sent from the client.
In the following examples, $r is a request object blessed into the
Apache class, obtained by the first parameter passed to a handler subroutine
or Apache->request
$r->method( [$meth] )
The $r->method method will return the request method. It will be a
string such as ``GET'', ``HEAD'' or ``POST''.
Passing an argument will set the method, mainly used for internal redirects.
$r->method_number( [$num] )
The $r->method_number method will return the request method number.
The method numbers are defined by the M_GET, M_POST,... constants
available from the Apache::Constants module. Passing an argument
will set the method_number, mainly used for internal redirects and
testing authorization restriction masks.
$r->bytes_sent
The number of bytes sent to the client, handy for logging, etc.
$r->the_request
The request line sent by the client, handy for logging, etc.
$r->proxyreq
Returns true if the request is proxy http.
Mainly used during the filename translation stage of the request,
which may be handled by a "PerlTransHandler".
$r->header_only
Returns true if the client is asking for headers only,
e.g. if the request method was HEAD.
$r->protocol
The $r->protocol method will return a string identifying the protocol
that the client speaks. Typical values will be ``HTTP/1.0'' or
``HTTP/1.1''.
$r->hostname
Returns the server host name, as set by full URI or Host: header.
$r->request_time
Returns the time that the request was made. The time is the local unix
time in seconds since the epoch.
$r->uri( [$uri] )
The $r->uri method will return the requested URI minus optional query
string, optionally changing it with the first argument.
$r->filename( [$filename] )
The $r->filename method will return the result of the URI -->
filename translation, optionally changing it with the first argument
if you happen to be doing the translation.
$r->path_info( [$path_info] )
The $r->path_info method will return what is left in the path after the
URI --> filename translation, optionally changing it with the first
argument if you happen to be doing the translation.
$r->args( [$query_string] )
The $r->args method will return the contents of the URI query
string. When called in a scalar context, the entire string is
returned. When called in a list context, a list of parsed key =>
value pairs are returned, i.e. it can be used like this:
$query = $r->args;
%in = $r->args;
$r->args can also be used to set the query string. This can be useful
when redirecting a POST request.
$r->headers_in
The $r->headers_in method will return a %hash of client request
headers. This can be used to initialize a perl hash, or one could use
the $r->header_in() method (described below) to retrieve a specific
header value directly.
Will return a HASH reference blessed into the Apache::Table
class when called in a scalar context with no ``key'' argument. This
requires Apache::Table.
$r->header_in( $header_name, [$value] )
Return the value of a client header. Can be used like this:
$ct = $r->header_in("Content-type");
$r->header_in($key, $val); #set the value of header '$key'
$r->content
The $r->content method will return the entity body read from the
client, but only if the request content type is
"application/x-www-form-urlencoded".
When called in a scalar context, the entire string is
returned. When called in a list context, a list of parsed key =>
value pairs are returned. *NOTE*: you can only ask for this once,
as the entire body is read from the client.
$r->read($buf, $bytes_to_read, [$offset])
This method is used to read data from the client,
looping until it gets all of $bytes_to_read or a timeout happens.
An offset may be specified to place the read data at some other place
than the beginning of the string.
In addition, this method sets a timeout before reading with
"$r->soft_timeout".
$r->get_remote_host
Lookup the client's DNS hostname. If the configuration directive
HostNameLookups is set to off, this returns the dotted decimal
representation of the client's IP address instead. Might return
undef if the hostname is not known.
$r->get_remote_logname
Lookup the remote user's system name. Might return undef if the
remote system is not running an RFC 1413 server or if the configuration
directive IdentityCheck is not turned on.
More information about the client can be obtained from the
Apache::Connection object, as described below.
$c = $r->connection
The $r->connection method will return a reference to the request
connection object (blessed into the Apache::Connection package).
This is really a "conn_rec*" in disguise. The following methods can
be used on the connection object:
$c->remote_host
If the configuration directive HostNameLookups is set to on: then
the first time "$r->get_remote_host" is called the server does a DNS
lookup to get the remote client's host name. The result is cached in
"$c->remote_host" then returned. If the server was unable to resolve
the remote client's host name this will be set to "". Subsequent calls
to "$r->get_remote_host" return this cached value.
If the configuration directive HostNameLookups is set to off: calls
to "$r->get_remote_host" return a string that contains the dotted
decimal representation of the remote client's IP address. However this
string is not cached, and "$c->remote_host" is undefined. So, it's
best to to call "$r->get_remote_host" instead of directly accessing
this variable.
$c->remote_ip
The dotted decimal representation of the remote client's IP address.
This is set by the server when the connection record is created so
is always defined.
You can also set this value by providing an argument to it. This is
helpful if your server is behind a squid accelerator proxy which adds
a X-Forwarded-For header.
$c->local_addr
A packed SOCKADDR_IN in the same format as returned by
``pack_sockaddr_in'' in Socket, containing the port and address on the
local host that the remote client is connected to. This is set by
the server when the connection record is created so it is always
defined.
$c->remote_addr
A packed SOCKADDR_IN in the same format as returned by
``pack_sockaddr_in'' in Socket, containing the port and address on the
remote host that the server is connected to. This is set by the
server when the connection record is created so it is always defined.
Among other things, this can be used, together with "$c->local_addr", to
perform RFC1413 ident lookups on the remote client even when the
configuration directive IdentityCheck is turned off.
Can be used like:
use Net::Ident qw (lookupFromInAddr);
...
my $remoteuser = lookupFromInAddr ($c->local_addr,
$c->remote_addr, 2);
Note that the lookupFromInAddr interface does not currently exist in
the Net::Ident module, but the author is planning on adding it
soon.
$c->remote_logname
If the configuration directive IdentityCheck is set to on: then the
first time "$r->get_remote_logname" is called the server does an RFC
1413 (ident) lookup to get the remote users system name. Generally for
UNI* systems this is their login. The result is cached in "$c->remote_logname"
then returned. Subsequent calls to "$r->get_remote_host" return the
cached value.
If the configuration directive IdentityCheck is set to off: then
"$r->get_remote_logname" does nothing and "$c->remote_logname" is
always undefined.
$c->user( [$user] )
If an authentication check was successful, the authentication handler
caches the user name here. Sets the user name to the optional first
argument.
$c->auth_type
Returns the authentication scheme that successfully authenticate
"$c->user", if any.
$c->aborted
Returns true if the client stopped talking to us.
$c->fileno( [$direction] )
Returns the client file descriptor. If $direction is 0, the input fd
is returned. If $direction is not null or ommitted, the output fd is
returned.
This can be used to detect client disconnect without doing any I/O,
e.g. using IO::Select.
SERVER CONFIGURATION INFORMATION
The following methods are used to obtain information from server
configuration and access control files.
$r->dir_config( $key )
Returns the value of a per-directory variable specified by the
"PerlSetVar" directive.
# <Location /foo/bar>
# PerlSetVar Key Value
# </Location>
my $val = $r->dir_config('Key');
Keys are case-insensitive.
Will return a HASH reference blessed into the
Apache::Table class when called in a scalar context with no
``key'' argument. See Apache::Table.
$r->dir_config->get( $key )
Returns the value of a per-directory array variable specified by the
"PerlAddVar" directive.
Alternatively in your code you can extend the setting with:
$r->dir_config->add(Key => 'Value3');
Keys are case-insensitive.
Will return a HASH reference blessed into the
Apache::Table class when called in a scalar context with no
``key'' argument. See Apache::Table.
$r->requires
Returns an array reference of hash references, containing information
related to the require directive. This is normally used for access
control, see Apache::AuthzAge for an example.
$r->auth_type
Returns a reference to the current value of the per directory
configuration directive AuthType. Normally this would be set to
"Basic" to use the basic authentication scheme defined in RFC 1945,
Hypertext Transfer Protocol - HTTP/1.0. However, you could set to
something else and implement your own authentication scheme.
$r->auth_name
Returns a reference to the current value of the per directory
configuration directive AuthName. The AuthName directive creates
protection realm within the server document space. To quote RFC 1945
``These realms allow the protected resources on a server to be
partitioned into a set of protection spaces, each with its own
authentication scheme and/or authorization database.'' The client uses
the root URL of the server to determine which authentication
credentials to send with each HTTP request. These credentials are
tagged with the name of the authentication realm that created them.
Then during the authentication stage the server uses the current
authentication realm, from "$r->auth_name", to determine which set of
credentials to authenticate.
$r->document_root
Returns a reference to the current value of the per server
configuration directive DocumentRoot. To quote the Apache server
documentation, ``Unless matched by a directive like Alias, the server
appends the path from the requested URL to the document root to make
the path to the document.'' This same value is passed to CGI
scripts in the "DOCUMENT_ROOT" environment variable.
$r->allow_options
The "$r->allow_options" method can be used for
checking if it is OK to run a perl script. The Apache::Options
module provides the constants to check against.
if(!($r->allow_options & OPT_EXECCGI)) {
$r->log_reason("Options ExecCGI is off in this directory",
$filename);
}
$r->get_server_port
Returns the port number on which the server is listening.
$s = $r->server
Return a reference to the server info object (blessed into the
Apache::Server package). This is really a "server_rec*" in
disguise. The following methods can be used on the server object:
$s = Apache->server
Same as above, but only available during server startup for use in
<Perl> sections, PerlScript or PerlModule.
$s->server_admin
Returns the mail address of the person responsible for this server.
$s->server_hostname
Returns the hostname used by this server.
$s->port
Returns the port that this servers listens too.
$s->is_virtual
Returns true if this is a virtual server.
$s->names
Returns the wild-carded names for ServerAlias servers.
$s->dir_config( $key )
Alias for Apache::dir_config.
$s->warn
Alias for Apache::warn.
$s->log_error
Alias for Apache::log_error.
$s->uid
Returns the numeric user id under which the server answers requests.
This is the value of the User directive.
$s->gid
Returns the numeric group id under which the server answers requests.
This is the value of the Group directive.
$s->loglevel
Get or set the value of the current LogLevel. This method is added by
the Apache::Log module, which needs to be pulled in.
use Apache::Log;
print "LogLevel = ", $s->loglevel;
$s->loglevel(Apache::Log::DEBUG);
If using Perl 5.005+, the following constants are defined (but not
exported):
Returns a reference to a list of handlers enabled for $hook. $hook is
a string representing the phase to handle. The returned list is a list
of references to the handler subroutines.
$list = $r->get_handlers( 'PerlHandler' );
$r->set_handlers( $hook, [\&handler, ... ] )
Sets the list if handlers to be called for $hook. $hook is a string
representing the phase to handle. The list of handlers is an anonymous
array of code references to the handlers to install for this request
phase. The special list [ \&OK ] can be used to disable a particular
phase.
Pushes a new handler to be called for $hook. $hook is a string
representing the phase to handle. The handler is a reference to a
subroutine to install for this request phase. This handler will be
called before any configured handlers.
$r->push_handlers( PerlHandler => \&footer);
SETTING UP THE RESPONSE
The following methods are used to set up and return the response back
to the client. This typically involves setting up $r->status(), the
various content attributes and optionally some additional
$r->header_out() calls before calling $r->send_http_header() which will
actually send the headers to the client. After this a typical
application will call the $r->print() method to send the response
content to the client.
$r->send_http_header( [$content_type] )
Send the response line and all headers to the client.
Takes an optional parameter indicating the content-type of the
response, i.e. 'text/html'.
This method will create headers from the $r->content_xxx() and
$r->no_cache() attributes (described below) and then append the
headers defined by $r->header_out (or $r->err_header_out if status
indicates an error).
$r->get_basic_auth_pw
If the current request is protected by Basic authentication,
this method will return 0, otherwise -1.
The second return value will be the decoded password sent by the client.
($ret, $sent_pw) = $r->get_basic_auth_pw;
$r->note_basic_auth_failure
Prior to requiring Basic authentication from the client, this method
will set the outgoing HTTP headers asking the client to authenticate
for the realm defined by the configuration directive "AuthName".
$r->handler( [$meth] )
Set the handler for a request.
Normally set by the configuration directive "AddHandler".
$r->handler( "perl-script" );
$r->notes( $key, [$value] )
Return the value of a named entry in the Apache "notes" table, or
optionally set the value of a named entry. This table is used by Apache
modules to pass messages amongst themselves. Generally if you are
writing handlers in mod_perl you can use Perl variables for this.
Will return a HASH reference blessed into the Apache::Table
class when called in a scalar context with no ``key'' argument. This
requires Apache::Table.
$r->pnotes( $key, [$value] )
Like $r->notes, but takes any scalar as an value.
$r->pnotes("MY_HANDLER" => [qw(one two)]);
my $val = $r->pnotes("MY_HANDLER");
print $val->[0]; # prints "one"
Advantage over just using a Perl variable is that $r->pnotes gets
cleaned up after every request.
$r->subprocess_env( $key, [$value] )
Return the value of a named entry in the Apache "subprocess_env"
table, or optionally set the value of a named entry. This table is
used by mod_include. By setting some custom variables inside
a perl handler it is possible to combine perl with mod_include nicely.
If you say, e.g. in a PerlHeaderParserHandler
Will return a HASH reference blessed into the Apache::Table
class when called in a scalar context with no ``key'' argument. This
requires Apache::Table.
$r->content_type( [$newval] )
Get or set the content type being sent to the client. Content types
are strings like ``text/plain'', ``text/html'' or ``image/gif''. This
corresponds to the ``Content-Type'' header in the HTTP protocol. Example
of usage is:
Get or set the content encoding. Content encodings are string like
``gzip'' or ``compress''. This correspond to the ``Content-Encoding''
header in the HTTP protocol.
$r->content_languages( [$array_ref] )
Get or set the content languages. The content language corresponds to the
``Content-Language'' HTTP header and is an array reference containing strings
such as ``en'' or ``no''.
$r->status( $integer )
Get or set the reply status for the client request. The
Apache::Constants module provide mnemonic names for the status codes.
$r->status_line( $string )
Get or set the response status line. The status line is a string like
``200 Document follows'' and it will take precedence over the value specified
using the $r->status() described above.
$r->headers_out
The $r->headers_out method will return a %hash of server response
headers. This can be used to initialize a perl hash, or one could use
the $r->header_out() method (described below) to retrieve or set a specific
header value directly.
Will return a HASH reference blessed into the Apache::Table
class when called in a scalar context with no ``key'' argument. This
requires Apache::Table.
$r->header_out( $header, $value )
Change the value of a response header, or create a new one. You
should not define any ``Content-XXX'' headers by calling this method,
because these headers use their own specific methods. Example of use:
The $r->err_headers_out method will return a %hash of server response
headers. This can be used to initialize a perl hash, or one could use
the $r->err_header_out() method (described below) to retrieve or set a specific
header value directly.
The difference between headers_out and err_headers_out is that the
latter are printed even on error, and persist across internal redirects
(so the headers printed for ErrorDocument handlers will have them).
Will return a HASH reference blessed into the Apache::Table
class when called in a scalar context with no ``key'' argument. This
requires Apache::Table.
$r->err_header_out( $header, [$value] )
Change the value of an error response header, or create a new one.
These headers are used if the status indicates an error.
This is a flag that indicates that the data being returned is volatile
and the client should be told not to cache it.
$r->print( @list )
This method sends data to the client with "$r->write_client", but first
sets a timeout before sending with "$r->soft_timeout". This method is
called instead of CORE::print when you use print() in your mod_perl programs.
This method treats scalar references specially. If an item in @list is a
scalar reference, it will be dereferenced before printing. This is a
performance optimization which prevents unneeded copying of large strings,
and it is subtly different from Perl's standard print() behavior.
Example:
$foo = \"bar"; print($foo);
The result is ``bar'', not the ``SCALAR(0xDEADBEEF)'' you might have expected. If
you really want the reference to be printed out, force it into a scalar
context by using "print(scalar($foo))".
$r->send_fd( $filehandle )
Send the contents of a file to the client. Can for instance be used
like this:
#can send a string too
#<Location $r->uri>
#ErrorDocument 401 "sorry, go away"
#</Location>
#$r->custom_response(AUTH_REQUIRED, "sorry, go away");
return AUTH_REQUIRED;
}
SERVER CORE FUNCTIONS
$r->soft_timeout($message)
$r->hard_timeout($message)
$r->kill_timeout
$r->reset_timeout
(Documentation borrowed from http_main.h)
There are two functions which modules can call to trigger a timeout
(with the per-virtual-server timeout duration); these are hard_timeout
and soft_timeout.
The difference between the two is what happens when the timeout
expires (or earlier than that, if the client connection aborts) ---
a soft_timeout just puts the connection to the client in an
``aborted'' state, which will cause http_protocol.c to stop trying to
talk to the client, but otherwise allows the code to continue normally.
hard_timeout(), by contrast, logs the request, and then aborts it
completely --- longjmp()ing out to the accept() loop in http_main.
Any resources tied into the request resource pool will be cleaned up;
everything that is not will leak.
soft_timeout() is recommended as a general rule, because it gives your
code a chance to clean up. However, hard_timeout() may be the most
convenient way of dealing with timeouts waiting for some external
resource other than the client, if you can live with the restrictions.
When a hard timeout is in scope, critical sections can be guarded
with block_alarms() and unblock_alarms() --- these are declared in
alloc.c because they are most often used in conjunction with
routines to allocate something or other, to make sure that the
cleanup does get registered before any alarm is allowed to happen
which might require it to be cleaned up; they * are, however,
implemented in http_main.c.
kill_timeout() will disarm either variety of timeout.
reset_timeout() resets the timeout in progress.
$r->post_connection($code_ref)
$r->register_cleanup($code_ref)
Register a cleanup function which is called just before $r->pool is
destroyed.
$r->register_cleanup(sub {
my $r = shift;
warn "registered cleanup called for ", $r->uri, "\n";
});
Cleanup functions registered in the parent process (before forking)
will run once when the server is shut down:
#PerlRequire startup.pl
warn "parent pid is $$\n";
Apache->server->register_cleanup(sub { warn "server cleanup in $$\n"});
The post_connection method is simply an alias for register_cleanup,
as this method may be used to run code after the client connection is closed,
which may not be a cleanup.
CGI SUPPORT
We also provide some methods that make it easier to support the CGI
type of interface.
$r->send_cgi_header()
Take action on certain headers including Status:, Location: and
Content-type: just as mod_cgi does, then calls
$r->send_http_header(). Example of use:
The request failed, why?? Write a message to the server errorlog.
$r->log_reason("Because I felt like it", $r->filename);
$r->log_error($message)
Uh, oh. Write a message to the server errorlog.
$r->log_error("Some text that goes in the error_log");
$r->warn($message)
For pre-1.3 versions of apache, this is just an alias for
"log_error". With 1.3+ versions of apache, this message will only be
send to the error_log if LogLevel is set to warn or higher.
UTILITY FUNCTIONS
Apache::unescape_url($string)
Handy function for unescapes. Use this one for filenames/paths.
Use unescape_url_info for the result of submitted form data.
Apache::unescape_url_info($string)
Handy function for unescapes submitted form data.
In opposite to unescape_url it translates the plus sign to space.
Apache::perl_hook($hook)
Returns true if the specified callback hook is enabled:
for (qw(Access Authen Authz ChildInit Cleanup Fixup
HeaderParser Init Log Trans Type))
{
print "$_ hook enabled\n" if Apache::perl_hook($_);
}
Perl interface to the Apache C API written by Doug MacEachern
with contributions from Gisle Aas, Andreas Koenig, Eric Bartley,
Rob Hartill, Gerald Richter, Salvador Ortiz and others.