Maybe I'm too conservative here, but as sysadmin I don't like libraries/modules that do more than install when I tell them to install.

For example, I might not have apache and/or the jpegs and html files installed when I install your module.
I might not want all htmls and jpegs included in your database.
This could be DOM0 of a virtual setup and only the clients should have those databases.
I might have more than one apache installed, only one should get the treatment.
Maybe I just want to look at the module to evaluate it for a different machine.
Maybe I have a non-standard installation that will let your script do something bad if not adapted.
Maybe I have a few terabytes of jpegs and html so that your database would overflow the /var space.
The machine might have some security setup where the unexpected creation of files in specific directories leads to emergency shutdown of the machine.
The sysadmin might have very different ideas about where your database should be put.
The installation might have to be redone a few times (maybe because it is part of a bigger installation script that doesn't work correctly) and it wastes 20 minutes every time.
Or there were some changes necessary in the database and every reinstall of a new version of your module will overwrite those changes
Maybe there are hundreds of machines all of which get the same identical library installation, but only one of the machines will be a web server. And all have access to a big html-data directory through (traffic-heavy) NFS.

Calling your init script should be done explicitly by anyone using your module. He should know what to expect, should know what your init script does before he calls it. You should put a text something like 'Call the script with parameters a and b to initialize the database before first use. This will do the following:...' into the usage description of the pod documentation.

All this IMHO

In reply to Re^3: RFC: Apache2::CloseKeepAlive by jethro
in thread RFC: Apache2::CloseKeepAlive by cmac

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