Re: mod_perl's ease of installation and the list (was: Re: Problems installing libapreq)

[Robert Landrum <rl...@capitoladvantage.com>]

At 9:20 PM -0700 8/16/01, Nick Tonkin wrote:
>On Thu, 16 Aug 2001 10:38:56 -0700 Ged Haywood wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 15 Aug 2001, Nick Tonkin wrote:
>>
>> > > Somehow they are not getting setup right.
>> >
>> > Yeah, no kidding, Joe.
>>
>
> > He's only trying to help.  :)
>
>[snip]
>So what I mean to say is, firstly, that I think that it's unfortunate that
>the level of complexity of getting mod_perl going is so high, and
>maybe some more work could be directed in the ease-of-use area. I realize,
>of course that it takes at least two to tango, and to be fair there are
>many other components of a comprehensive web application  platform that
>also have work together with each other and mod_perl. I'm sure in my
>current case it's something to do with how FreeBSD installed Perl, or some
>such. But that's my whole point. I don't think it should be a prerequisite
>that you be able to debug your whole system configuration in order to get
>mod_perl working. It just creates a barrier, one which I've always been
>determined to overcome, but which I am sure has turned many other  
>would-be mod_perlers away.

Actually, I had an idea about this... I have no idea how mod_perl and 
apache 2.0 are going to work.  That said, my suggestion is to make 
modules work a little more like an rc.d script.  Basically, you 
download apache and untar it.  Then you download mod_perl or mod_php 
or mod_ssl or mod_* or all of the above.  For each module you run
tar -zxvf mod_whatever.tar.gz
cd mod_whatever
./configure
make link

The make link command creates a "linking" file in the apache source 
directory automatically.  The "linking" file would basically be a 
makefile explaining how to copy the headers and libraries to the 
apache tree for compilation.

This way, you wouldn't have to tell apache about everything you 
wanted to add.  Instead, apache config would just iterate through the 
directory with all the "linking" files and know from those files what 
to include.

I think this is very similar to the way its currently done, except 
it's much more automated and easier for the user (IMHO).  I know I've 
had  problems trying to get mod_php, mod_perl, and mod_ssl to compile 
together.


Robert Landrum

--
"A good magician never reveals his secret; the unbelievable trick
becomes simple and obvious once it is explained. So too with UNIX."