NAME
    CGI::Fast - CGI Interface for Fast CGI

SYNOPSIS
        use CGI::Fast
            socket_path  => '9000',
            listen_queue => 50;

        $COUNTER = 0;

        while (new CGI::Fast) {
            print header;
            print start_html("Fast CGI Rocks");
            print
            h1("Fast CGI Rocks"),
            "Invocation number ",b($COUNTER++),
                " PID ",b($$),".",
            hr;
            print end_html;
        }

DESCRIPTION
    CGI::Fast is a subclass of the CGI object created by CGI.pm. It is
    specialized to work with the FCGI module, which greatly speeds up CGI
    scripts by turning them into persistently running server processes.
    Scripts that perform time-consuming initialization processes, such as
    loading large modules or opening persistent database connections, will
    see large performance improvements.

OTHER PIECES OF THE PUZZLE
    In order to use CGI::Fast you'll need the FCGI module. See
    http://www.cpan.org/ for details.

WRITING FASTCGI PERL SCRIPTS
    FastCGI scripts are persistent: one or more copies of the script are
    started up when the server initializes, and stay around until the server
    exits or they die a natural death. After performing whatever one-time
    initialization it needs, the script enters a loop waiting for incoming
    connections, processing the request, and waiting some more.

    A typical FastCGI script will look like this:

        #!perl
        use CGI::Fast;
        do_some_initialization();
        while ($q = new CGI::Fast) {
            process_request($q);
        }

    Each time there's a new request, CGI::Fast returns a CGI object to your
    loop. The rest of the time your script waits in the call to new(). When
    the server requests that your script be terminated, new() will return
    undef. You can of course exit earlier if you choose. A new version of
    the script will be respawned to take its place (this may be necessary in
    order to avoid Perl memory leaks in long-running scripts).

    CGI.pm's default CGI object mode also works. Just modify the loop this
    way:

        while (new CGI::Fast) {
            process_request();
        }

    Calls to header(), start_form(), etc. will all operate on the current
    request.

INSTALLING FASTCGI SCRIPTS
    See the FastCGI developer's kit documentation for full details. On the
    Apache server, the following line must be added to srm.conf:

        AddType application/x-httpd-fcgi .fcgi

    FastCGI scripts must end in the extension .fcgi. For each script you
    install, you must add something like the following to srm.conf:

        FastCgiServer /usr/etc/httpd/fcgi-bin/file_upload.fcgi -processes 2

    This instructs Apache to launch two copies of file_upload.fcgi at
    startup time.

USING FASTCGI SCRIPTS AS CGI SCRIPTS
    Any script that works correctly as a FastCGI script will also work
    correctly when installed as a vanilla CGI script. However it will not
    see any performance benefit.

EXTERNAL FASTCGI SERVER INVOCATION
    FastCGI supports a TCP/IP transport mechanism which allows FastCGI
    scripts to run external to the webserver, perhaps on a remote machine.
    To configure the webserver to connect to an external FastCGI server, you
    would add the following to your srm.conf:

        FastCgiExternalServer /usr/etc/httpd/fcgi-bin/file_upload.fcgi -host sputnik:8888

    Two environment variables affect how the `CGI::Fast' object is created,
    allowing `CGI::Fast' to be used as an external FastCGI server. (See
    `FCGI' documentation for `FCGI::OpenSocket' for more information.)

    You can set these as ENV variables or imports in the use CGI::Fast
    statement. If the ENV variables are set then these will be favoured so
    you can override the import statements on the command line, etc.

    FCGI_SOCKET_PATH / socket_path
        The address (TCP/IP) or path (UNIX Domain) of the socket the
        external FastCGI script to which bind an listen for incoming
        connections from the web server.

    FCGI_LISTEN_QUEUE / listen_queue
        Maximum length of the queue of pending connections, defaults to 100.

    For example:

        use CGI::Fast
            socket_path  => "sputnik:8888",
            listen_queue => "50"
        ;

        do_some_initialization();

        while ($q = new CGI::Fast) {
            process_request($q);
        }

    Or:

        use CGI::Fast;

        do_some_initialization();

        $ENV{FCGI_SOCKET_PATH} = "sputnik:8888";
        $ENV{FCGI_LISTEN_QUEUE} = 50;

        while ($q = new CGI::Fast) {
            process_request($q);
        }

CAVEATS
    I haven't tested this very much.

AUTHOR INFORMATION
    Copyright 1996-1998, Lincoln D. Stein. All rights reserved. Currently
    maintained by Lee Johnson

    This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
    under the same terms as Perl itself.

    Address bug reports and comments to:

        https://github.com/leejo/cgi-fast

BUGS
    This section intentionally left blank.

SEE ALSO
    CGI::Carp, CGI

