NAME

CGI3::Fast - CGI3 Interface for Fast CGI3

SYNOPSIS

    use CGI3::Fast qw(:standard);
    $COUNTER = 0;
    while (new CGI3::Fast) {
    print header;
    print start_html("Fast CGI3 Rocks");
    print
        h1("Fast CGI3 Rocks"),
        "Invocation number ",b($COUNTER++),
            " PID ",b($$),".",
        hr;
        print end_html;
    }

DESCRIPTION

CGI3::Fast is a subclass of the CGI3 object created by CGI3.pm. It is specialized to work well with the Open Market FastCGI3 standard, which greatly speeds up CGI3 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 CGI3::Fast you'll need a FastCGI3-enabled Web server. Open Market's server is FastCGI3-savvy. There are also freely redistributable FastCGI3 modules for NCSA httpd 1.5 and Apache. FastCGI3-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 FastCGI3 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 FastCGI3 developer's kit. The FastCGI3 Perl interpreter can be used in place of your normal Perl without ill consequences.

You can find FastCGI3 modules for Apache and NCSA httpd, precompiled Perl interpreters, and the FastCGI3 developer's kit all at URL:

  http://www.fastcgi.com/

WRITING FASTCGI3 PERL SCRIPTS

FastCGI3 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 FastCGI3 script will look like this:

    #!/usr/local/bin/perl    # must be a FastCGI3 version of perl!
    use CGI3::Fast;
    &do_some_initialization();
    while ($q = new CGI3::Fast) {
    &process_request($q);
    }

Each time there's a new request, CGI3::Fast returns a CGI3 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).

CGI3.pm's default CGI3 object mode also works. Just modify the loop this way:

    while (new CGI3::Fast) {
    &process_request;
    }

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

INSTALLING FASTCGI3 SCRIPTS

See the FastCGI3 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

FastCGI3 scripts must end in the extension .fcgi. For each script you install, you must add something like the following 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 FASTCGI3 SCRIPTS AS CGI3 SCRIPTS

Any script that works correctly as a FastCGI3 script will also work correctly when installed as a vanilla CGI3 script. However it will not see any performance benefit.

CAVEATS

I haven't tested this very much.

AUTHOR INFORMATION

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.