Re: PerlModule versus PerlLoadModule

> That's exactly what will happen if a user will use PerlModule instead of
> PerlLoadModule at the moment. It'll silently fail. 

yes. but in some circumstances the failure might not be silent - directive
handlers would fail because httpd would croak, for example.  but you're
right, there is a danger.

> Meaning that you need
> to document that one needs to do:
> 
>  PerlLoadModule Foo
> 
> which is just as well, could be documented as:
> 
>   PerlStartNow
>   PerlModule Foo
> 
> especially if we are going to add PerlStartNow anyway (are we?). 

well, something about that strikes me as dangerous.  PerlStartNow has no
clear utility.  that is, everyone knows what <Perl> sections do, and
hopefully we could explain that PerlLoadModule would be for modules that
need to run init code.  but PerlStartNow is kind of floating in the aether -
starting the interpreter on demand has no clear benefit or activity
associated with it.

> But I
> don't have any hard preferences. All I was saying is that if you remove
> the magickness of PerlLoadModule with regards to add_module, then the
> only remaining difference between PerlModule and PerlLoadModule is that
> the latter starts perl. 

that's true, except that we can document it in terms of using it for modules
that need to interact with config-time activities, such as loading
directives into the server before other modules (like mod_authn_basic) get
the chance to start.

> And you can't really ensure that a user won't
> invoke your module via PerlModule.

I had thought about creating some kind of flag (local %ENV or package
variable) that would act as a flag in those circumstances.  so a module could

  die unless $Apache::Module::IsPerlLoadModule;

or something.  I admit, it's a stretch, but some mechanism would be nice.

> Sure. I don't think we have any remaining disagreements here.

whew!  :)

ok, I'll start working up a patch that will take directive handlers to the
next level.  keep the ideas coming and we'll get something together that's
spiffy :)

--Geoff