Description

This document provides information for CPAN modules developers whose modules require mod_perl.

Defining Makefile.PL Prerequisites that Require mod_perl

If there are any prerequisites that need to be defined in Makefile.PL, but require a mod_perl environment to successfully get loaded, the following workaround can be used. The following example will specify two prerequisites: CGI.pm and Apache::DBI, the latter can be loaded only under mod_perl whereas the former can be loaded from the command line.

  file:Makefile.PL
  ----------------
  use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;
  
  # set prerequisites
  my %prereq = (
      'CGI' => 2.71,
  );
  
  # Manually test whether Apache::DBI is installed and add it to the
  # PREREQ_PM if it's not installed, so CPAN.pm will automatically fetch
  # it. If Apache::DBI is already installed it will fail to get loaded by
  # MakeMaker because it requires the mod_perl environment to load.
  eval { require Apache::DBI };
  if ($@ && $@ !~ /Can't locate object method/) {
      $prereq{'Apache::DBI'} = 0.87;
  }
  
  WriteMakefile(
      NAME          => 'Apache::SuperDuper',
      VERSION_FROM  => 'SuperDuper.pm',
      PREREQ_PM     => \%prereq,
      # ... the rest
  );

Notice that Can't locate object method is a part of the error generated when Apache::DBI is installed but is attempted to be loaded outside of mod_perl, e.g. at the command line, which is the case with Makefile.PL.

Writing the Test Suite

The Apache::Test framework provides an easy way to test modules which require mod_perl (or Apache in general), be it 1.0 or 2.0 generation. Here is the complete guide to the Apache::Test framework.

Maintainers

Maintainer is the person(s) you should contact with updates, corrections and patches.

Stas Bekman [http://stason.org/]

Authors

• Stas Bekman [http://stason.org/]

Only the major authors are listed above. For contributors see the Changes file.