3.1.4. Enabling Extra Features

mod_perl comes with a number of other features. Most of them are disabled by default. This is the list of features and options to enable them:

• <Perl>sections give you a way to configure Apache using Perl code in the httpd.conf file itself. See Chapter 4 for more information.

  panic% perl Makefile.PL PERL_SECTIONS=1 ...

• With the PERL_SSI option, the mod_include module can be extended to include a #perl directive.

  panic% perl Makefile.PL PERL_SSI=1

  By enabling PERL_SSI, a new #perl element is added to the standard mod_include functionality. This element allows server-side includes to call Perl subroutines directly. This feature works only when mod_perl is not built as a DSO (i.e., when it's built statically).

• If you develop an Apache module in Perl and you want to create custom configuration directives[18] to be recognized in httpd.conf, you need to use Apache::ModuleConfig and Apache::CmdParms. For these modules to work, you will need to enable this option:

  [18]See Chapters 8 and 9 of Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C (O'Reilly).

  panic% perl Makefile.PL PERL_DIRECTIVE_HANDLERS=1

• The stacked handlers feature explained in Chapter 4 requires this parameter to be enabled:

  panic% perl Makefile.PL PERL_STACKED_HANDLERS=1

• The method handlers feature discussed in Chapter 4 requires this parameter to be enabled:

  panic% perl Makefile.PL PERL_METHOD_HANDLERS=1

• To enable all phase callback handlers, all API modules, and all miscellaneous features, use the "catch-all" option we used when we first compiled mod_perl:

  panic% perl Makefile.PL EVERYTHING=1