Re: [Sheflug] Hi All

[Mike Cardwell <lug [at] xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Alex Hudson wrote:

> mod_perl is a significant disadvantage, and I say that as someone who
> enjoys programming in Perl. 
Given a choice I would always use mod_perl. It's a piece of piss to 
learn if you know perl well, and much more pleasant to code imo.

> mod_perl makes it difficult to host in a number of ways: commercial
> mod_perl hosting is thin on the ground for security and performance
> reasons, and setting up mod_perl is pretty tough for a lot of people. 
imo, people shouldn't set up commercial sites on virtual servers if 
they're gonna get any sort of traffic. Get a dedicated box and configure 
it exactly the way you want. It's not much more expensive these days 
than getting a virtual host with a lot of "features", and a hell of a 
lot more secure and usually more reliable. Configuring apache up for 
mod_perl is explained in intimate detail on http://perl.apache.org/ and 
took me a few minutes to learn. The documentation on that site is all 
you need.

> My site (www.alexhudson.com) actually runs on Mason, after a fashion,
> and does many of the things I want in a CMS: but it's a pain to use,
> especially if you're wanting to write your own code. Even if you're a
> Perl coder, mod_perl is a completely different kettle of fish. 
That's a misconception that many people have. mod_perl is not difficult 
to learn if you know perl and apache. Read all the documentation at 
perl.apache.org, sign up to the mailing list, and start coding mod_perl.

And the reason to use mod_perl? No more reloading of the perl 
interpreter for each request. No more recompiling of modules for each 
request. Persistant database connections. Shared memory.
It made a very noticable difference in speed to 
http://www.fotoserve.com/ when we rewrote it in mod_perl. Oh, and it 
also gives you a lot more power over the way your pages are served. I'd 
never go back to writing normal cgi in perl (except at work). It's a 
pain in the arse.

Mike (mod_perl advocate)
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