Anonymous Monk has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I've spent the day reading and re-reading all the CONFIGURE, README, and INSTALL.* docs for both Apache 1.3.12 and mod_perl 1.24. Both seem to build and install just fine, but when I add a Location handler to the Apache config file, I get an error. Here's what I'm adding: 
 <Location /perl>
 SetHandler  perl-script
 PerlHandler Apache::Registry
 Options +ExecCGI
 </Location>

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When I test the syntax of httpd.conf via "httpd -t", I get this: 
Syntax error on line 904 of /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf:
Invalid command 'PerlHandler', perhaps mis-spelled or defined by a mod
+ule not included in the server configuration

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I've obviously fouled up somthing fundamental, but what? The box is RedHat 6.1. I didn't get any errors during the "make" of either Apache or mod_perl.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
RE: Getting started with mod_perl
by lhoward (Vicar) on May 21, 2000 at 07:22 UTC
    The config fragment you posted looks fine to me. My suspicion is that mod_perl isn't in the httpd that you're running. To verify that mod_perl is compiled into your httpd, do a httpd -l. It will list all the modules compiled into apache. If you do not see mod_perl listed something went wrong with the compile/install.
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Re: Getting started with mod_perl
by btrott (Parson) on May 21, 2000 at 07:35 UTC
    I agree w/ lhoward on this one.

    Your configuration there looks fine, so you probably don't have mod_perl built into your httpd. Did you build it in explicitly?

    In addition to using httpd -l, you can also check your error log. When you restart the webserver, you should get a line something like this: 

        Apache/1.3.12 (Unix) mod_perl/1.23 configured --...

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    If you're not getting the mod_perl stuff, you'll need to compile it in.

    For that, the mod_perl guide is a great source of information on everything mod_perl.

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[d/l]
Re: Getting started with mod_perl
by Ian the Terrible (Beadle) on May 21, 2000 at 11:27 UTC

    More info:

    The mod_perl and httpd tarballs were downloaded, un-gzip'd, and un-tar'd to the same parent directory. Then I did: 

    % perl Makefile.PL EVERTHING=1 USE_APACI=1
Will configure via APACI
Configure mod_perl with ../apache_1.3.12/src ? [y]
Shall I build httpd in ../apache_1.3.12/src for you? [y]

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    Much hilarity ensued. No errors. Then: 
    % make
# large amounts of error-free make info
% make test
# more large amount of error-free text, and then...
cp t/conf/mod_perl_srm.conf t/conf/srm.conf
../apache_1.3.12/src/httpd -f `pwd`/t/conf/httpd.conf -X -d `pwd`/t &
httpd listening on port 8529
will write error_log to: t/logs/error_log
letting apache warm up...\c
done
/usr/bin/perl t/TEST 0
still waiting for server to warm up...............not ok
server failed to start! (please examine t/logs/error_log) at t/TEST li
+ne 95.
make: *** [run_tests] Error 9
% [root@mybox mod_perl-1.24] cat t/logs/error_log
[Sat May 20 23:24:04 2000] [warn] pid file /home/builds/mod_perl-1.24/
+t/logs/httpd.
pid overwritten -- Unclean shutdown of previous Apache run?
Constant subroutine XHTML_DTD redefined at /usr/lib/perl5/5.00503/cons
+tant.pm line 175.
[notice] Destruction->DESTROY called for $global_object
[Sat May 20 23:24:06 2000] [warn] [notice] child_init for process 800,
+ report any problems to [no address given]

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    The "pid overwritten" message doesn't surprise me; I've been messing with this all day. It'd be a shock if there wasn't an existing pid file. But the rest of those errors confuse me.

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[d/l]
[select]

      I'm yet to have the tests in mod_perl run correctly. It always works just fine anyway.

      The first problem is you don't ever seem to run 'make install' on mod_perl. I always install it as per the instructions in INSTALL.apaci, so I can install other modules. This means you have to install apache directly, and activate the module in the apache configure.

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        Now we're talking.

        I'd swear that I'd tried that particular install method too, but perhaps not. mod_perl is running now.

        And I was doing the make install - I'm not quite that clueless. I just left it out of the crud I posted because I figured the make test output would be enough. And, it was. Thanks again.
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Re: Getting started with mod_perl
by Ian the Terrible (Beadle) on May 21, 2000 at 10:21 UTC

    No longer Anonymous...Dang non-compliant browsers...

    httpd -l shows that mod_perl isn't there, so I've missed something in the install process. I read every install document and readme I could find, but clearly something has escaped me. I'll keep digging, but if anyone has an idea as to what I might have missed, I'd be happy to hear it.

    I've been working with Apache 1.3.4 up 'til now, and there's a list of included modules in httpd.conf in that version. Am I correct in thinking that all of that information is now handled by options at build time?

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      Just a potentially helpful thought:
      Restart httpd. You can use the `httpd xxx` way (with xxx=shutdown/start IIRC) or as root, find the first httpd process id with `ps aux |` (probably owned by someone other than nobody) and then do a `kill -USR1 nnnnn` where the n's are the process id. It'll restart in place and regrab httpd.conf ... I hope the problem was that simple. TTFN & Shalom.

      -PipTigger
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