I think that this site (WSMCafe) is a lively example of what SamQi is trying to do. It's all CGI, no mod_perl that I can see.

perrin, I'm not sure if I agree with you. Could you please elaborate as to why PerlTransHandler isn't good for something like this. Here's a small example of what I'm working on and I'll soon have a working example to show for it. It seems to do its job pretty well, although I'm pretty sure there are some things that need to be improved. I do agree with you on how it really doesn't need mod_perl to be. But I figure if I have it, I use it. It goes on the theory, why keep on querying the database to make the pages when they can be generated as static pages.

package util::TransHandler;

use strict;
use Apache::Constants qw(:common);

sub handler {
    my $r = shift;

    my $uri = $r->uri;
    my ($host,$port) = split(/:/, $r->headers_in->{'Host'});

    lc($host);

    print STDERR $host,"\n";

    # if the hostname has more than one subdomain from the one specifi
+ed below, reject it.
    # bar.slinger.foo.com = OK
    # bar.baz.slinger.foo.com = NOT OK
    if ($host =~ m/^([a-z0-9]+\.){2,}\.?slinger\.foo\.com$/) {
        $r->pnotes('BadHost' => ['1']);
        return DECLINED;

    # if its not from the base domain. Process it. Find the files and 
+return the correct path.
    } elsif ($host !~ m/^(slinger)?\.?foo.com$/) {
        $host =~ m/^([a-z0-9]+)\.slinger\.foo.com$/;
        my $members = MEMBERS->select( { SUBDOMAIN => $1 } );
        my $session = SESSIONS->select( { SUBDOMAIN => $1 } );
        # if the subdomain exists in the database, process it.
        # Otherwise let the user know its available to use. 
        if ($members != 0 || $session != 0) {
            my $thedir = $r->server_root_relative($r->dir_config('User
+Dir'));
            my $result;
            if (ref($members) eq 'ARRAY') { $result = $members->[0]{DI
+RECTORY}; }
            if (ref($session) eq 'ARRAY') { $result = $session->[0]{DI
+RECTORY}; }
            return DECLINED unless $uri =~ s!^/(.*)$!$thedir/$result/$
+1!;
            $r->pnotes('DontDo' => ['1']);
            $r->filename($uri);
            return OK;
        } else {
            # Switch that says the subdomain is available.
            $r->pnotes('SubDomain' => [$1]);
            return OK;
        }
    } else {
        return DECLINED;
    }
}
[download]

Any improvements to it would be gladly accepted. This probably looks sloppy to most.

BMaximus