use Perl

While I have been swamped with $DAYJOB these past few weeks, to my surprise there has been quite a bit of activity on the mod_parrot development list. It's a really tiny community right now, but I'm already getting patches for new handlers and bug fixes, and good advice from Geoff, who gives us the view from the mod_perl/Apache world. All this gives the development process a much needed kick in the rear, and gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling about the project. Then again, a few beers gives me that same feeling, so take it for what it's worth. ;-)

My buddy Tom just got one of the shiny new 1.67 GHz 15" Powerbooks. I'm actually using him as my guinea pig -- if he really likes it, I'm gonna get one. I was an Apple guy in the '90s, so I'm looking forward to getting back to my roots. :)

Geoff just showed me a neat Apache::Test trick. If you're testing an Apache module with Apache::Test, you can run a debugger on the httpd process automatically with this line:

t/TEST -debug=gdb -breakpoint=somebreakpoint

I've been running GDB manually up to this point, so this is a big time saver. Apache::Test just continues to earn brownie points with me.

I've moved the mod_parrot source over to the perl.org Subversion repository, thanks to Robert's smooth conversion. I've never used Subversion before, so I'm hoping this is a positive learning experience. And from what I hear, it should be.

My mod_parrot article is finally up on perl.com. Enjoy!

I wanted to show off something snazzy with mod_parrot, so check out the ASCII Mandelbrot browser, written as a mod_parrot handler. You can find it on my mod_parrot page. There are likely memory leaks in both Parrot and mod_parrot, so we'll see how long this lasts!

mod_parrot 0.1 is now available here. Major new features include authentication handlers, a bunch of new methods to support authentication, access to Apache constants (OK, DECLINED, HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED, etc.) and a test suite.

For my birthday tomorrow I'm heading up to NYC for, of all things, the New York PHP group meeting. Geoff and Chris are giving a talk that I don't want to miss. Afterwards I plan on partaking in the local drinking customs to celebrate, as I'll probably be all geeked out by that time. :)

You can now write Apache authentication handlers in Parrot (release pending). Behold, a handler that accepts any basic authentication with a password of 'squawk':

In handler.imc:

.namespace [ 'MyAuthHandler' ]

.sub _handler
    .local pmc r
    .local pmc ap_const
    .local string pw
    .local int status

    find_global ap_const, 'Apache::Constants', 'ap_constants'

    # get the request_rec object
    find_type $I0, 'Apache::RequestRec'
    r = new $I0

    # decline if not the initial request
    $I1 = r.'is_initial_req'( )
    if $I1 != 1 goto auth_declined

    (status, pw) = r.'get_basic_auth_pw'( )

    if pw != 'squawk' goto auth_failure
    $I0 = ap_const['OK']
    goto auth_return_status

auth_failure:
    $I0 = ap_const['HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED']
    goto auth_return_status

auth_declined:
    $I0 = ap_const['DECLINED']
    goto auth_return_status

auth_return_status:
    .pcc_begin_return
        .return $I0
    .pcc_end_return
.end

In httpd.conf:

ParrotLoad /tmp/handler.pbc
<Directory /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/parrot/private>
    ParrotAuthenHandler MyAuthHandler
    AuthType Basic
    AuthName "Parrot Test"
    Require valid-user
</Directory>

Found my Solaris Systems Programming book by my front door yesterday evening. I can't say enough good things about it -- it reads like a tutorial, but makes a great reference as well. I could have used this book ten years ago! Great job, Rich Teer.

In other news, Freshmeat has posted an editorial on where Perl 6 is heading. Now, I've had my doubts about the Perl 6 language and its insatiable need for verbage and strange new operators. All these extra things don't bother me though, as long as we can improve the core language and have "real" objects, exceptions, and other goodies that Perl 5 is missing. Oh yeah, let's not forget XS either. *shudder* But the author just didn't do his research here, and makes several completely unfounded claims. I feel your pain, but get your facts straight before posting to a forum like Freshmeat, buddy.