mod_perl reloading handler on each call

BigLug has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I have just started getting into mod_perl (v2) and I need some help. I'm not getting the expected behaviour from the script that follows.

My module is loading and executing as I'd expect, however it's reloading upon each call from the browser. AFAIK, mod_perl is supposed to load the module once when Apache starts up, and then it should call the handler() once for each request from a browser.

This was the impression that I got from what I've been able to read. However I could be wrong. Am I?

If I'm right, please take a look at my code and let me know where I went wrong. Let me know why it reloads my script every time I call the directory in which it sits.

My .htaccess says:

SetHandler perl-script
PerlResponseHandler Some::Module
[download]

My script is as follows. The warn() line is there so I can see from the logs (tail -f) when the script it reloaded:

package Some::Module;

use strict;
use warnings;

use CGI;

use Apache::RequestRec ();
use Apache::RequestIO ();
use Apache::Const -compile => qw(OK);

# Log the loading of this handler
warn("Reloading the handler.\n");

# Code snipped to create a DBI object
# Code snipped to create a Cache::File object
# Code snipped to create a HTML::Template object

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
+-
# Master apache query handler
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
+-
sub handler {
    my $r = shift;
    my $c = new CGI;

    $r->content_type('text/plain');
    print $c->param('output');

    return Apache::OK;
}
[download]

P.S. Have I done anything that is against the mod_perl recommended way to do it?

Cheers!
Rick
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If this is a reply: This is a discussion group, not a helpdesk ... If the discussion happens to answer a question you've asked, that's incidental.

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Re: mod_perl reloading handler on each call by perrin (Chancellor) on Jan 10, 2005 at 03:32 UTC
It's not reloading your module, but rather loading it once in each process. After that it stays in memory until another new process is spawned. You should load the module in your startup.pl to avoid this. It will work fine as is, but you will save some memory by loading it before apache forks.	[reply]
Re^2: mod_perl reloading handler on each call by BigLug (Chaplain) on Jan 10, 2005 at 03:42 UTC
You are right! Thankyou for restoring my sanity! I changed the code an introduced a global `$output` then inside `handler()` I set `$output \|\|= $c->param('output');`. Upon each run I got the script to output `$output`. Then I kept calling the script with a different output: output=1, output=2 etc ... once I got to 9, the printed result was 'Output: 1' ... which means it had got to the end of the available processes and reused the first one again :)) Thanks again! Cheers! Rick If this is a root node: Before responding, please ensure your clue bit is set. If this is a reply: This is a discussion group, not a helpdesk ... If the discussion happens to answer a question you've asked, that's incidental.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: mod_perl reloading handler on each call by perrin (Chancellor) on Jan 10, 2005 at 04:09 UTC
You can see what's happening more simply by just printing the process id, $$, in your warning.	[reply]
Re: mod_perl reloading handler on each call by borisz (Canon) on Jan 10, 2005 at 02:39 UTC
Try this in your httpd.conf: `<Location /> Set-Handler perl-script PerlHandler +Some::Module </Location>` [download] You could use `Apache::Request` to parse your query. Boris	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: mod_perl reloading handler on each call by BigLug (Chaplain) on Jan 10, 2005 at 03:11 UTC
Exactly the same .. the log keeps showing that it's been reloaded .. (On the other note, should I be using Apache::Request rather than CGI? Is that best practice in mp2?) Cheers! Rick If this is a root node: Before responding, please ensure your clue bit is set. If this is a reply: This is a discussion group, not a helpdesk ... If the discussion happens to answer a question you've asked, that's incidental.	[reply]
Re^3: mod_perl reloading handler on each call by valentin (Abbot) on Jan 10, 2005 at 03:47 UTC
Are you really sure? Or did you just use Different fork's of apache? Try to start apache with -X an watch your logs again. You should see only one load count. Apache::Request is faster.	[reply]
Re^2: mod_perl reloading handler on each call by Errto (Vicar) on Jan 10, 2005 at 04:00 UTC
Does Apache::Request exist for mod_perl2? I tried installing it via CPAN.pm on my box with mod_perl2 installed and I got the following: `CPAN.pm: Going to build S/ST/STAS/libapreq-1.33.tar.gz mod_perl 1.x ( < 1.99) is required at Makefile.PL line 34.` [download] Is there another way to get it?	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: mod_perl reloading handler on each call by borisz (Canon) on Jan 10, 2005 at 04:46 UTC
Yes, libapreq2 Boris	[reply]
Re^4: mod_perl reloading handler on each call by Errto (Vicar) on Jan 11, 2005 at 05:00 UTC
Re^5: mod_perl reloading handler on each call by borisz (Canon) on Jan 11, 2005 at 07:32 UTC
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