How can I pass arguments into a script that I have curl & perl'd, for example. I have a project called apache2buddy.pl, its hosted on a polish domain, but its really just a perl script.

To execute the full script there are a couple of ways to do this:

1. the download and execute locally, or wget, method

# wget -O apache2buddy.pl apache2buddy.pl

then

# perl apache2buddy.pl [+ optional args]

I know that my script works in the desired way for example, once the script is downloaded with wget, I can issue the command:

# perl apache2buddy.pl --report
----------------------------------------------------------------------
+----------
Apache2buddy.pl report for server: perl.richardforth.co.uk (46.101.60.
+103):

Settings considered for this report:

        Your server's physical RAM:             490 MB
        Apache's MaxClients directive:          150
[ OK ]  Your MaxClients setting is within an acceptable range.
        Max potential memory usage:             292.5 MB

        Percentage of RAM allocated to Apache   59.70 %
----------------------------------------------------------------------
+----------
[download]

BUT, my question is really regarding the "curl & perl" method, ie; How can I run the --report argument with:

# curl apache2buddy.pl | perl

This runs the "full" report but if I want a more concise output for example if in a "for" loop, against many servers, I like to run it with --report, can I do that with "curl & perl" or only after the wget method?

The reason to ask is as its really just a reporting tool and the potential need to run this across a farm of servers with the --report option, and I'd rather not have to download a copy on to each machine and run it locally.

You're all welcome to play with it, its not fully functional yet, you will obviously need apache webserver (2.2 at the moment) and a Linux Distro such as CentOS or RedHat for it to work as it stands, Im working on geting it to support apache2.4 and debian / ubuntu.

I digressed, annyway, if you know the answer to the above, I would be very grateful.

The only hacky way around this problem I have found is to use "tail" and "egrep" in combination:

# curl -s apache2buddy.pl | perl | tail -15 | egrep -i "\-|report|cons
+idered|physical|acceptable|too high|potential|percentage"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
+----------
Apache2buddy.pl report for server: perl.richardforth.co.uk (46.101.60.
+103):
Settings considered for this report:
        Your server's physical RAM:             490 MB
[ OK ]  Your MaxClients setting is within an acceptable range.
        Max potential memory usage:             292.5 MB
        Percentage of RAM allocated to Apache   59.70 %
----------------------------------------------------------------------
+----------
[download]

However I was hoping that there may be a more elegant solution, I just cant figure out how to pass the argument --report with the curl & perl method

.

For your comfort I include the usage below:

# perl apache2buddy.pl -h

Usage: apache2buddy.pl [OPTIONS]
If no options are specified, the basic tests will be run.

        -h, --help              Print this help message
        -p, --port=PORT         Specify an alternate port to check (de
+fault: 80)
        -P, --php               Include the PHP memory_limit setting w
+hen making the recommendation
        -v, --verbose           Use verbose output (this is very noisy
+, only useful for debugging)
        -n, --nocolor           Use default terminal color, dont try t
+o be all fancy!
        -H, --noheader          Do not show header title bar.
        -N, --noinfo            Do not show informational messages.
        -K, --no-ok             Do not show OK messages.
        -W, --nowarn            Do not show warning messages.
        -L, --light-term        Show colours for a light background te
+rminal.
        -r, --report            Implies -HNWK or --noinfo --nowarn --n
+o-ok --noheader

More information (1990's style info pages):

                http://apache2buddy.pl/about
                http://apache2buddy.pl/installation
                http://apache2buddy.pl/usage
                http://apache2buddy.pl/examples
                http://apache2buddy.pl/known_bugs
                http://apache2buddy.pl/feature_requests
                http://apache2buddy.pl/project_roadmap
                http://apache2buddy.pl/changelog
[download]

Kind Regards

Richard "urbansumo" Forth