I have no success in getting Net::OpenSSH working within a mod_perl handler, neither with mod_perl 1 nor with mod_perl 2. Here's some test code to exhibit the problem:

package test::openssh;

use strict;
use warnings;

use constant MP2 => (($ENV{MOD_PERL_API_VERSION} || 0) >= 2
                     or eval "require Apache2::ServerUtil; Apache2::Se
+rverUtil::server_root ()");
BEGIN {
    if (MP2) {
    require Apache2::Const;
    require Apache2::RequestRec;
    require Apache2::RequestUtil;
    Apache2::Const->import(qw(OK));
    } else {
    require Apache::Constants;
    Apache::Constants->import(qw(OK));
    }
}
use Net::OpenSSH;
use File::Temp qw(tempdir);

# Please change the following two lines:
use constant SSH_HOST => 'user@host';
use constant SSH_PRIVATE_KEY => "/path/to/private/key/id_dsa";

sub handler ($$) {
    my($class, $r) = @_;
    my $ctl_dir = tempdir(CLEANUP => 1, TMPDIR => 1) or die $!;
    my $ssh = Net::OpenSSH->new(SSH_HOST,
                                master_opts => ["-vvv", -i => SSH_PRIV
+ATE_KEY, -o => "stricthostkeychecking=no"],
                                ctl_dir => $ctl_dir,
                                strict_mode => 0,
                               );
    die $ssh->error if $ssh->error;
    my $date = $ssh->capture("date");
    $r->send_http_header;
    $r->print("hello, the date at " . $ssh->get_host . " is $date\n");
    OK;
}

1;

__END__
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The handler is installed into the Apache using this snippet in the httpd.conf:

    <Perl>
    #use lib "/tmp/lib"; # if necessary
    </Perl>
    
    PerlModule test::openssh
    <Location "/mytest/openssh">
        SetHandler perl-script
        PerlHandler test::openssh->handler
    </Location>
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After setting up the private key and adding the public key to authorized_keys I tried to using the handler, but had no success. On an old Debian Linux system (perl 5.8.8, mod_perl 1.29) the error is:

[Wed Mar 24 15:31:29 2010] [error] unable to establish master SSH conn
+ection: Unknown error at .../test/openssh.pm line 33
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On a FreeBSD 8.0 system (perl 5.8.9, mod_perl 2.0.4) the error is a little bit different:

[Wed Mar 24 14:59:55 2010] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] child process ST
+DIN is not a real system file handle at /tmp/lib/test/openssh.pm line
+ 29\n\t(in cleanup) child process STDIN is not a real system file han
+dle at -e line 0\n
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Any suggestions? I tried some variations with setting the stdin/stdout/stderr options of Net::OpenSSH, but still had no success.