[ANNOUNCE] Apache::PAR 0.12

[Nathan Byrd <na...@byrd.net>]

Hi all,

I am happy to announce the release of Apache::PAR version 0.12.  This
module is available for download from either a CPAN mirror or
sourceforge:
http://www.cpan.org/modules/by-authors/id/N/NB/NBYRD/Apache-PAR-0.12.tar.gz
http://sourceforge.net/projects/apache-par/.

Highlights from this release:

0.12  Thu Mar 27 2003
* Some testing performed on Win32 platforms Win 98 and Win 2k (thanks to
Raymond Field.  Documentation changed to reflect necessary changes to
get Apache::PAR up and running on Win32.
* Improved mod_perl 2.x detection.  No longer requires
Apache::ServerUtil
* Support for Apache::Static pulling from root directory of PAR file
* New configuration mechanism, through PARInclude directive and
use/include lines in startup.pl or PERL sections

Also, highlights from 0.11 (no announcement previously sent):

0.11  Mon Mar 10 2003
* Changes to stay compatible with latest mod_perl CVS.  This change is
not backwards compatible, however.  For mod_perl 2.x the CVS version is
currently required
* Some code cleanup
* Added more tests (not yet complete)
* Made errors from Archive::Zip silent (less noise to logs)
* Added additional tests
* Apache::PAR::Registry was using PARPerlRunPath instead of
PARRegistryPath, identified by Raymond Field
* PARPerlRunPath and PARRegistryPath failed to find contents if set to
"/", identified by Raymond Field
* WIN32 fix for setting ##PARFILE## to reasonable value on that platform
for Apache, identified by Raymond Field

Summary of Apache::PAR:

Apache::PAR is a framework for including Perl ARchive files in a
mod_perl (1.x or 2.x) environment.  It allows an author to package up a
web application, including configuration, static files, Perl modules,
and Registry and PerlRun scripts to include in a single file.  This
archive can then be moved to other locations on the same system or
distributed, and loaded with a single set of configuration options in
the Apache configuration.

These modules are based on PAR.pm by Autrijus Tang and Archive::Zip by
Ned Konz, as well as the mod_perl modules.  They extend the concept of
PAR files to mod_perl, similar to how WAR archives work for Java. An
archive (which is really a zip file), contains one or more elements
which can be served to clients making requests to an Apache web server. 
Scripts, modules, and static content should then be able to be served
from within the .par archive without modifications.

Contact:

If you have questions or problems regarding this module, or suggestions
for further enhancements, please let me know at one of the following
locations:
E-mail: nathan@byrd.net
Mailing list: par@perl.org (to subscribe, send an empty email to
par-subscribe@perl.org)
Sourceforge forums: http://sourceforge.net/projects/apache-par/

Thanks,

-- 
Nathan Byrd <na...@byrd.net>