I have recently installed mod_perl on my development server to assess the performance benefits often claimed of it. For the most part I have been absolutely stunned by the massive speed increases I have witnessed through its usage. However, I have come up against a major barrier: I can't connect to any MySQL DB server(s) from scripts running under mod_perl. If I disable mod_perl, then these same scripts work fine. I am at a loss as to what's going wrong. I have discussed this on various mailing lists without resolving the problem. Now, I throw myself on the mercy of our esteemed monks - in the hope that I can get these scripts working.

Server Configuration:

• Windows 2000
• Apache/1.3.19 (Win32)
• mod_perl/1.24_01
• MySql 3.23.38-nt
• Perl 5.6

The DB works fine: I can connect via MySQLAdmin; I can connect via PHP4; I can connect via CGI; I cannot connect via mod_perl.

The relevant section of "httpd.config" is as follows:

    LoadModule perl_module modules/ApacheModulePerl

    <Files *.pl>
        SetHandler    perl-script
        PerlHandler    Apache::Registry
        Options        ExecCGI
        PerlSendHeader    On

    </Files>
[download]

A minimalist Perl program that demonstrates my problem is as follows:

#!perl

print ("Content-type: text/html\n\n");

use strict;
use vars qw($query $dsn $driver $db_username $db_password $dbh);

require 5.006; $| = 1; ($0 =~ m,(.*)/[^/]+,) && unshift (@INC, "$1"); 
+($0 =~ m,(.*)\\[^\\]+,) && unshift (@INC, "$1");

use CGI qw(:standard); use CGI::Carp 'fatalsToBrowser';
$CGI::POST_MAX = (1024 * 0); $CGI::DISABLE_UPLOADS = 1;
$query = new CGI;

use DBI();
$driver = "mysql";
$dsn = "DBI:$driver:database=shapeshifter;host=localhost;port=80";

$db_username = "nobody";
$db_password = "";
warn "Before DBI->connect(): [$$]";
$dbh = DBI->connect($dsn, $db_username, $db_password) or die sprintf "
+Error: %s.\n", DBI->errstr;
warn "After DBI->connect() [$$]";
my $sth = $dbh->prepare("SELECT * FROM frontpage");
$sth->execute();
while (my $ref = $sth->fetchrow_hashref()) {
    print qq~Found a row: id = $ref->{'serial_number'}, name = $ref->{
+'position'}<BR>~;
}
$sth->finish();
$dbh->disconnect();

if ($ENV{'MOD_PERL'}) {
    print "Mod_perl is installed on this server: $ENV{'MOD_PERL'}<br><
+br>\n";
} else {
    print "Mod_perl is not installed on this server<br><br>\n";
}
[download]

The relevant output from "error.log" reads:

[Tue May 22 05:19:57 2001] nul: Before DBI->connect(): [2576] at e:/pa
+d/htdocs/internet/system/db_test.pl line 20.<BR>


[Tue May 22 05:19:58 2001] nul: DBI->connect failed: Can't connect to 
+MySQL server on 'localhost' (10061) at e:/pad/htdocs/internet/system/
+db_test.pl line 21<BR>

[Tue May 22 05:19:58 2001] [error] Error: Can't connect to MySQL serve
+r on 'localhost' (10061).
[download]

Can anyone tell me what's going wrong, before I tear out my few remaining strands of hair and go in search of a gun and belltower?

Thanks in advance

Edit: chipmunk 2001-05-22