1CGI::Fast(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation CGI::Fast(3)
2
6 CGI::Fast - CGI Interface for Fast CGI
7
9 use CGI::Fast
10 socket_path => '9000',
11 socket_perm => 0777,
12 listen_queue => 50;
13 use CGI qw/ :standard /;
15 $COUNTER = 0;
17 # optional, will default to STDOUT, STDERR
19 CGI::Fast->file_handles({
20 fcgi_output_file_handle => IO::Handle->new,
21 fcgi_error_file_handle => IO::Handle->new,
22 });
23 while ($q = CGI::Fast->new) {
25 process_request($q);
26 }
27
29 CGI::Fast is a subclass of the CGI object created by CGI.pm. It is
30 specialized to work with the FCGI module, which greatly speeds up CGI
31 scripts by turning them into persistently running server processes.
32 Scripts that perform time-consuming initialization processes, such as
33 loading large modules or opening persistent database connections, will
34 see large performance improvements.
35 Note that as CGI::Fast is based on CGI.pm it is no longer advised as a
37 way to write Perl web apps. See
38 <https://metacpan.org/pod/CGI#CGI.pm-HAS-BEEN-REMOVED-FROM-THE-PERL-CORE>
39 for more information about this
40
42 In order to use CGI::Fast you'll need the FCGI module. See
43 http://www.cpan.org/ for details.
44
46 FastCGI scripts are persistent: one or more copies of the script are
47 started up when the server initializes, and stay around until the
48 server exits or they die a natural death. After performing whatever
49 one-time initialization it needs, the script enters a loop waiting for
50 incoming connections, processing the request, and waiting some more.
51 A typical FastCGI script will look like this:
53 #!perl
55 use CGI::Fast;
56 do_some_initialization();
57 while ($q = CGI::Fast->new) {
58 process_request($q);
59 }
60 Each time there's a new request, CGI::Fast returns a CGI object to your
62 loop. The rest of the time your script waits in the call to new().
63 When the server requests that your script be terminated, new() will
64 return undef. You can of course exit earlier if you choose. A new
65 version of the script will be respawned to take its place (this may be
66 necessary in order to avoid Perl memory leaks in long-running scripts).
67 CGI.pm's default CGI object mode also works. Just modify the loop this
69 way:
70 while (CGI::Fast->new) {
72 process_request();
73 }
74 Calls to header(), start_form(), etc. will all operate on the current
76 request.
77
79 See the FastCGI developer's kit documentation for full details. On the
80 Apache server, the following line must be added to srm.conf:
81 AddType application/x-httpd-fcgi .fcgi
83 FastCGI scripts must end in the extension .fcgi. For each script you
85 install, you must add something like the following to srm.conf:
86 FastCgiServer /usr/etc/httpd/fcgi-bin/file_upload.fcgi -processes 2
88 This instructs Apache to launch two copies of file_upload.fcgi at
90 startup time.
91
93 Any script that works correctly as a FastCGI script will also work
94 correctly when installed as a vanilla CGI script. However it will not
95 see any performance benefit.
96
98 FastCGI supports a TCP/IP transport mechanism which allows FastCGI
99 scripts to run external to the webserver, perhaps on a remote machine.
100 To configure the webserver to connect to an external FastCGI server,
101 you would add the following to your srm.conf:
102 FastCgiExternalServer /usr/etc/httpd/fcgi-bin/file_upload.fcgi -host sputnik:8888
104 Two environment variables affect how the "CGI::Fast" object is created,
106 allowing "CGI::Fast" to be used as an external FastCGI server. (See
107 "FCGI" documentation for "FCGI::OpenSocket" for more information.)
108 You can set these as ENV variables or imports in the use CGI::Fast
110 statement. If the ENV variables are set then these will be favoured so
111 you can override the import statements on the command line, etc.
112 FCGI_SOCKET_PATH / socket_path
114 The address (TCP/IP) or path (UNIX Domain) of the socket the
115 external FastCGI script to which bind an listen for incoming
116 connections from the web server.
117 FCGI_SOCKET_PERM / socket_perm
119 Permissions for UNIX Domain socket.
120 FCGI_LISTEN_QUEUE / listen_queue
122 Maximum length of the queue of pending connections, defaults to
123 100.
124 For example:
126 use CGI::Fast
128 socket_path => "sputnik:8888",
129 listen_queue => "50"
130 ;
131 use CGI qw/ :standard /;
133 do_some_initialization();
135 while ($q = CGI::Fast->new) {
137 process_request($q);
138 }
139 Or:
141 use CGI::Fast;
143 use CGI qw/ :standard /;
144 do_some_initialization();
146 $ENV{FCGI_SOCKET_PATH} = "sputnik:8888";
148 $ENV{FCGI_LISTEN_QUEUE} = 50;
149 while ($q = CGI::Fast->new) {
151 process_request($q);
152 }
153 Note the importance of having use CGI after use CGI::Fast as this will
155 prevent any CGI import pragmas being overwritten by CGI::Fast. You can
156 use CGI::Fast as a drop in replacement like so:
157 use CGI::Fast qw/ :standard /
159
161 FCGI defaults to using STDOUT and STDERR as its output filehandles -
162 this may lead to unexpected redirect of output if you migrate scripts
163 from CGI.pm to CGI::Fast. To get around this you can use the
164 file_handles method, which you must do before the first call to
165 CGI::Fast->new. For example using IO::Handle:
166 CGI::Fast->file_handles({
168 fcgi_output_file_handle => IO::Handle->new,
169 fcgi_error_file_handle => IO::Handle->new,
170 });
171 while (CGI::Fast->new) {
173 ..
174 }
175 Overriding STDIN using the "fcgi_input_file_handle" key is also
177 possible, however doing so is likely to break at least POST requests.
178
180 I haven't tested this very much.
181
183 Copyright 1996-1998, Lincoln D. Stein. All rights reserved. Currently
184 maintained by Lee Johnson
185 This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
187 under the same terms as Perl itself.
188 Address bug reports and comments to:
190 https://github.com/leejo/cgi-fast
192
194 This section intentionally left blank.
195
197 CGI::Carp, CGI
198perl v5.34.0 2021-09-01 CGI::Fast(3)