Embedding Perl in HTML with Mason

Chapter 7. Using Mason with mod_perl

While Mason can be used in any text generation context, it is most frequently used to create dynamic web sites. As you probably know, executing Perl (or anything else for that matter) as a CGI can be very slow. Mason, because it is not a small amount of code, can be sluggish when run as a CGI under heavy loads.

To that end, Mason has been designed to play nice when run under mod_perl. In fact, Mason has quite a number of features that make it nicely suited to running under mod_perl.

This chapter assumes that you are familiar with Apache, particularly Apache’s configuration files, and with mod_perl. If you’re not, here’s a teaser: mod_perl embeds a Perl interpreter inside the Apache web server. Because Perl is already loaded, no external processes need to be launched to serve Perl-generated content. mod_perl also allows many server tasks to be configured and executed using Perl, which can be a great convenience.

More information on Apache can be found via the Apache web site at http://httpd.apache.org/, as well as in O’Reilly’s Apache: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition (Ben and Peter Laurie, 2003).

For more information on mod_perl, the mod_perl site at http://perl.apache.org/ is useful, as is Stas Bekman’s fabulous mod_perl guide, which can be found at the same location. Also useful is Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C (the “Eagle Book”) by Lincoln Stein and Doug MacEachern, also published by O’Reilly.^[16] Despite the title, it is really primarily ...