phpman > perldoc > CGI::Fast

NAME
    CGI::Fast - CGI Interface for Fast CGI

SYNOPSIS
        use CGI::Fast
            socket_path  => '9000',
            socket_perm  => 0777,
            listen_queue => 50;

        use CGI qw/ :standard /;

        $COUNTER = 0;

        # optional, will default to STDOUT, STDERR
        CGI::Fast->file_handles({
            fcgi_output_file_handle => IO::Handle->new,
            fcgi_error_file_handle  => IO::Handle->new,
        });

        while ($q = CGI::Fast->new) {
            process_request($q);
        }

DESCRIPTION
    CGI::Fast is a subclass of the CGI object created by CGI.pm. It is specialized to work with the
    FCGI module, which greatly speeds up CGI scripts by turning them into persistently running
    server processes. Scripts that perform time-consuming initialization processes, such as loading
    large modules or opening persistent database connections, will see large performance
    improvements.

    Note that as CGI::Fast is based on CGI.pm it is no longer advised as a way to write Perl web
    apps. See <https://metacpan.org/pod/CGI#CGI.pm-HAS-BEEN-REMOVED-FROM-THE-PERL-CORE> for more
    information about this

OTHER PIECES OF THE PUZZLE
    In order to use CGI::Fast you'll need the FCGI module. See http://www.cpan.org/ for details.

WRITING FASTCGI PERL SCRIPTS
    FastCGI scripts are persistent: one or more copies of the script are started up when the server
    initializes, and stay around until the server exits or they die a natural death. After
    performing whatever one-time initialization it needs, the script enters a loop waiting for
    incoming connections, processing the request, and waiting some more.

    A typical FastCGI script will look like this:

        #!perl
        use CGI::Fast;
        do_some_initialization();
        while ($q = CGI::Fast->new) {
            process_request($q);
        }

    Each time there's a new request, CGI::Fast returns a CGI object to your loop. The rest of the
    time your script waits in the call to new(). When the server requests that your script be
    terminated, new() will return undef. You can of course exit earlier if you choose. A new version
    of the script will be respawned to take its place (this may be necessary in order to avoid Perl
    memory leaks in long-running scripts).

    CGI.pm's default CGI object mode also works. Just modify the loop this way:

        while (CGI::Fast->new) {
            process_request();
        }

    Calls to header(), start_form(), etc. will all operate on the current request.

INSTALLING FASTCGI SCRIPTS
    See the FastCGI developer's kit documentation for full details. On the Apache server, the
    following line must be added to srm.conf:

        AddType application/x-httpd-fcgi .fcgi

    FastCGI scripts must end in the extension .fcgi. For each script you install, you must add
    something like the following to srm.conf:

        FastCgiServer /usr/lib/cgi-bin/file_upload.fcgi -processes 2

    This instructs Apache to launch two copies of file_upload.fcgi at startup time.

USING FASTCGI SCRIPTS AS CGI SCRIPTS
    Any script that works correctly as a FastCGI script will also work correctly when installed as a
    vanilla CGI script. However it will not see any performance benefit.

EXTERNAL FASTCGI SERVER INVOCATION
    FastCGI supports a TCP/IP transport mechanism which allows FastCGI scripts to run external to
    the webserver, perhaps on a remote machine. To configure the webserver to connect to an external
    FastCGI server, you would add the following to your srm.conf:

        FastCgiExternalServer /usr/lib/cgi-bin/file_upload.fcgi -host sputnik:8888

    Two environment variables affect how the "CGI::Fast" object is created, allowing "CGI::Fast" to
    be used as an external FastCGI server. (See "FCGI" documentation for "FCGI::OpenSocket" for more
    information.)

    You can set these as ENV variables or imports in the use CGI::Fast statement. If the ENV
    variables are set then these will be favoured so you can override the import statements on the
    command line, etc.

    FCGI_SOCKET_PATH / socket_path
        The address (TCP/IP) or path (UNIX Domain) of the socket the external FastCGI script to
        which bind an listen for incoming connections from the web server.

    FCGI_SOCKET_PERM / socket_perm
        Permissions for UNIX Domain socket.

    FCGI_LISTEN_QUEUE / listen_queue
        Maximum length of the queue of pending connections, defaults to 100.

    For example:

        use CGI::Fast
            socket_path  => "sputnik:8888",
            listen_queue => "50"
        ;

        use CGI qw/ :standard /;

        do_some_initialization();

        while ($q = CGI::Fast->new) {
            process_request($q);
        }

    Or:

        use CGI::Fast;
        use CGI qw/ :standard /;

        do_some_initialization();

        $ENV{FCGI_SOCKET_PATH} = "sputnik:8888";
        $ENV{FCGI_LISTEN_QUEUE} = 50;

        while ($q = CGI::Fast->new) {
            process_request($q);
        }

    Note the importance of having use CGI after use CGI::Fast as this will prevent any CGI import
    pragmas being overwritten by CGI::Fast. You can use CGI::Fast as a drop in replacement like so:

        use CGI::Fast qw/ :standard /

FILE HANDLES
    FCGI defaults to using STDOUT and STDERR as its output filehandles - this may lead to unexpected
    redirect of output if you migrate scripts from CGI.pm to CGI::Fast. To get around this you can
    use the file_handles method, which you must do before the first call to CGI::Fast->new. For
    example using IO::Handle:

        CGI::Fast->file_handles({
            fcgi_output_file_handle => IO::Handle->new,
            fcgi_error_file_handle  => IO::Handle->new,
        });

        while (CGI::Fast->new) {
            ..
        }

    Overriding STDIN using the "fcgi_input_file_handle" key is also possible, however doing so is
    likely to break at least POST requests.

CAVEATS
    I haven't tested this very much.

LICENSE
    Copyright 1996-1998, Lincoln D. Stein. All rights reserved. Currently maintained by Lee Johnson

    This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as
    Perl itself.

    Address bug reports and comments to:

        https://github.com/leejo/cgi-fast

BUGS
    This section intentionally left blank.

SEE ALSO
    CGI::Carp, CGI