Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C

2.3. Installing mod_perl

In order to use the Perl API, you'll need to download and install mod_perl if you haven't done so already. This section will describe the simplest way to do this. If you've already installed mod_perl you'll want to skip this section or jump directly to Appendix B, where we give you the lowdown on mod_perl 's advanced installation options.

If you are a Win32 user, you can skip to Section 2.3.2 and download the precompiled ApacheModulePerl.dll loadable module. We'll show you how to activate ApacheModulePerl.dll at the end of the section.

2.3.1. The Installation Process

mod_perl is part of the CPAN archive. FTP to a CPAN site close to you and enter the directory modules/by-module/Apache/. Download the file mod_perl-X.XX.tar.gz, where X.XX is the highest version number you find.

It is easiest to build mod_perl when it is located at the same level as the Apache source tree. Change your working directory to the source directory of the server root, and unpack the mod_perl distribution using the gunzip and tar tools:^[4]

^[4] If you don't have gunzip and tar, you can find the freeware GNU versions of these tools at ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu.

% cd ~www/build 
  % gunzip -c mod_perl- X.XX.tar.gz | tar xvf -  
  mod_perl-X.XX /t/
  mod_perl-X.XX /t/docs/
  mod_perl-X.XX /t/docs/env.iphtml
  mod_perl-X.XX /t/docs/content.shtml
  mod_perl-X.XX /t/docs/error.txt
   ....
  % cd mod_perl- X.XX 

Now, peruse the README and INSTALL files located in the mod_perl directory. These files ...