Mac OS X Hacks

Build Your Own Apache Server with mod_perl

Go beyond the capabilities of the Apple-supplied Apache web server, building your own version with mod_perl for scalable web applications built in Perl.

When Apple released Mac OS X, it included as part of the operating system one of the most powerful and most used applications on the Internet today: the Apache web server. This has been a boon for Mac users and dedicated Unix jocks alike, as the combination of Apache’s simplicity and power and the legendary Mac OS ease-of-use has made for a robust Internet application development platform. Largely due to the inclusion of Apache, along with a host of other necessary Unix power tools, Mac OS X has rapidly become the Unix developer’s platform of choice.

And lest anyone be concerned, the Apache that ships with Mac OS X is the genuine article. We’re not talking about a weak, proof-of-concept port of Apache that runs under Windows. Mac OS X’s FreeBSD underpinnings allow for the Apache web server to be as flexible and responsive as it is on any Unix-based operating system. See [Hack #51] to get started web serving using Apache.

However, the version of Apache included with Mac OS X is arguably unsatisfactory in a number of ways. If you’re like me and plan to do some serious mod_perl-based web development work on Mac OS X, you’ll need to take the following issues into consideration as you begin working with Apple’s Apache install:

• Although it includes support for mod_perl, it is as a dynamically ...