Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C

3.1. How Apache Works

Much of the Apache API is driven by the simple fact that Apache is a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) server that runs in the background as a daemon. Because it is a daemon, it must do all the things that background applications do, namely, read its configuration files, go into the background, shut down when told to, and restart in the case of a configuration change. Because it is an HTTP server, it must be able to listen for incoming TCP/IP connections from web browsers, recognize requests for URIs, parse the URIs and translate them into the names of files or scripts, and return some response to the waiting browser (Figure 3.1). Extension modules play an active role in all these aspects of the Apache server's life.

Figure 3.1. The HTTP transaction consists of a URI request from the browser to the server, followed by a document response from the server to the browser.

Like most other servers, Apache multiplexes its operations so that it can start processing a new request before it has finished working on the previous one. On Unix systems, Apache uses a multiprocess model in which it launches a flock of servers: a single parent server is responsible for supervision and one or more children are actually responsible for serving incoming requests.^[1] The Apache server takes care of the basic process management, but some extension modules need to maintain process-specific ...