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<h2>mod_dtcl Documentation</h2>
<h3>1) Installation</h3>
<ol>
<li><b>Check dependencies</b><br>
To install mod_dtcl, you will need <b>Tcl 8.2</b> or greater
and <b>Apache 1.3.xx</b>. It is known to run on Linux,
FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and Solaris and HPUX. NT is also possible -
please see the directions in the distribution.
</li>
<li><b>Get mod_dtcl</b><br>
If you are running a Debian or FreeBSD system, there
are pre-built packages available at:
<a href="http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/web/libapache-mod-dtcl.html">http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/web/libapache-mod-dtcl.html</a>
or
<a
href="http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/ports.cgi?query=mod_dtcl">http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/ports.cgi?query=mod_dtcl</a>.<br>
Otherwise, download the sources at <a href="download/">http://tcl.apache.org/mod_dtcl/download/</a>.
<br>
</li>
<li><b>Uncompress the sources</b><br>
<code>
gunzip apache-1.3.X.tar.gz<br>
tar -xvf apache-1.3.X.tar.gz<br>
</code>
You don't need the Apache sources if you are building a shared
object module. You do, however, need the header files.
Some systems, such as Debian GNU/Linux, provide these
independently - otherwise, you probably still need the sources.<br>
<code>
gunzip mod_dtcl-X.X.X.tar.gz<br>
tar -xvf mod_dtcl-X.X.X.tar.gz<br>
</code>
</li>
<li><b>Configuring, builddtcl.sh, etc...</b><br>
Do you want to build mod_dtcl as a shared object (such as a
.so file on Linux, or a .dll on windows), or compile it
directly as a part of the Apache executable? The Apache
Software Foundation has put together a nice <a
href="http://httpd.apache.org/docs/dso.html">manual</a>
which explains things in detail.
<ul>
<li><b>For shared objects</b><br>
<code>cd ../mod_dtcl/<br></code>
Edit the <code>builddtcl.sh</code> script. The 3
variables you may need to change are:
<ul>
<li><code>TCLSH</code><br>
Name of the tclsh program on your computer.
</li>
<li><code>APACHE</code><br>
Location of the Apache sources (for static builds only).
</li>
<li><code>INC</code><br>
Location of the Apache headers (you will need this even
for building shared objects).
</li>
</ul>
<code>
./builddtcl.sh shared
</code><br>
<code>
cp mod_dtcl.so
/usr/lib/apache/wherever/the/other/shared/objects/reside
</code> For shared object builds, you need to copy the
object into the directory where the other shared
objects are kept for your Apache build. On Debian
GNU/Linux systems, for instance, this is in
<code>/usr/lib/apache/1.3/</code>.
</li>
<li><b>For static builds</b><br>
<code>
cd apache-1.3.X/<br>
./configure<br>
</code>
<code>cd ../mod_dtcl/<br></code>
Edit the <code>builddtcl.sh</code> script. The 3
variables you may need to change are:
<ul>
<li><code>TCLSH</code><br>
Name of the tclsh program on your computer.
</li>
<li><code>APACHE</code><br>
Location of the Apache sources (for static builds only).
</li>
<li><code>INC</code><br>
Location of the Apache headers (you will need this even
for building shared objects).
</li>
</ul>
<code>
./builddtcl.sh static
</code><br>
<code>
./builddtcl.sh install
</code><br>
<code>cd ../apache-1.3.X<br></code>
<code>./configure
--activate-module=src/modules/mod_dtcl/mod_dtcl.a [ other configure
options ]<br></code>
<code>export EXTRA_LIBS="-ltcl8.X -lm"</code><br>
<code>make -e<br></code>
<code>make install<br></code>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><b>Configure Apache<br></b>
<ul>
<li>
<b>http.conf</b><br> <code>LoadModule dtcl_module
/usr/lib/apache/1.3/mod_dtcl.so</code><br>
This points Apache to the shared object if
mod_dtcl is being used as a loadable module.
</li>
<li>
<b>srm.conf</b><br>
<code>AddType application/x-httpd-tcl .ttml</code><br>
<code>AddType application/x-dtcl-tcl .tcl</code>
(optional)<br>
These add the .ttml and .tcl (if desired) types to
Apache, so that they are processed by mod_dtcl.
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
<h3>2) Apache Directives</h3>
<ul>
<li>
<code><b>Dtcl_Script GlobalInitScript <i>"script"</i></code></b><br>
Tcl script that is run when each interpreter is
initialized. <code>"script"</code> is actual Tcl
script, so to run a file, you would do
<code>Dtcl_Script GlobalInitScript "source /var/www/foobar.tcl"</code>.
</li>
<li>
<code><b>Dtcl_Script ChildInitScript <i>"script"</i></b></code><br>
Script to be evaluated when each apache child is
initialized. This is the best place to load modules.
</li>
<li>
<code><b>Dtcl_Script ChildExitScript <i>"script"</i></b></code><br>
Script to be evaluated when each apache child exits.
</li>
<li>
<code><b>Dtcl_Script BeforeScript <i>"script"</i></b></code><br>
Script to be evaluated before each .ttml page.
<strong>Note</strong> that you cannot use
<code>hputs</code> in the BeforeScript, but must
instead use <code>buffer_add</code>.
</li>
<li>
<code><b>Dtcl_Script AfterScript <i>"script"</i></b></code><br>
Script to be called after each .ttml page.
</li>
<li>
<code><b>Dtcl_Script ErrorScript <i>"script"</i></b></code><br>
This code is called in place of the standard 'error' pages
generated for mod_dtcl. This directive may be useful if you
have sensitive logic that you wish to protect.
</li>
<li>
<code><b>Dtcl_CacheSize <i>cachesize</i></b></code><br>
Number of ttml scripts to cache as Tcl Objects.
Default is MaxRequestsPerChild / 2, or 50, if
MaxRequestsPerChild is 0.
</li>
<li>
<code><b>Dtcl_UploadFilesToVar <i>1/0</i></b></code><br>
If set to 1, files will be uploaded to the variable
UPLOAD(data). Be careful with this, as large files could
use up your memory.
</li>
</ul>
<h3>3) mod_dtcl specific Tcl commands and variables</h3>
<ul>
<li>
<code><b>buffer_add <i>string</i></b></code><br>
Add text to output_buffer for later printing. Used
internally.
</li>
<li>
<code><b>hputs <i>?-error? text</i></b></code><br>
The mod_dtcl version of "puts". Outputs to the
client, instead of to stdout.
The error option permits you to send an 'error message' to the
apache log file, at the NOTICE level.
</li>
<li>
<code><b>hgetvars</b></code><br>
Get environmental, CGI and Cookie variables. This is
in a seperate command so as not to make the server do
this every time you load a .ttml file. ENVS, VARS, and
COOKIES are the associative arrays created. ENVS
contains environmental variables, VARS contains all
the 'cgi' variables, and COOKIES, any cookies recieved
from the client.
</li>
<li>
<code><b>include <i>filename</i></b></code><br>
Include a file without parsing it. This is the best
way to include an HTML file or any other static content.
</li>
<li>
<code><b>parse <i>filename</i></b></code><br>
"Source" a .ttml file. This is the way to include
other .ttml files.
</li>
<li>
<code><b>hflush</b></code><br>
Flush the output buffers to the client. Use this if
you want to incrementally update a page.
</li>
<li>
<code><b>headers redirect <i>uri</i></b></code><br>
Redirect from the current page to a new
URI. <b>Must</b> be done in the first block of TCL code.
</li>
<li>
<code><b>headers setcookie <i>-name cookie-name
-value cookie-value ?-expires date/time? ?-domain domain?
?-path path? ?-secure?</i></b></code><br>
This command is for setting cookies. Cookie-name is
the name of the cookie, cookie-value is the data
associated with the variable. Expires sets an
expiration date for the cookie, and must be in the
format 'DD-Mon-YY HH:MM:SS', path sets the path for
which the cookie is valid, and secure specifies that
the cookie is only to be transmitted if the connection
is secure (HTTPS).
</li>
<li>
<code><b>headers type
<i>content-type</i></b></code><br>
This command sets the "Content-type:" header returned
by the script, which is useful if you wish to create a
PNG (image), for example, with mod_dtcl.
</li>
<li>
<code><b>headers set <i>headername value</i></b></code><br>
Set arbitrary header names and values.
</li>
<li>
<code><b>dtcl_info</b></code><br>
Prints information on the internals of the module in
HTML. Currently, only the PID and size of the object
cache are reported.
</li>
<li>
Note that these variables may be lists if more than one file
is uploaded at a time.<br>
<code><b>$::request::UPLOAD(filename)</b></code><br>
The filename of the uploaded file.<br>
<code><b>$::request::UPLOAD(name)</b></code><br>
The form variable name of the upload.<br>
<code><b>$::request::UPLOAD(size)</b></code><br>
The size of the uploaded file.<br>
<code><b>$::request::UPLOAD(type)</b></code><br>
The content type of the file upload. <i>Not always available!</i><br>
<code><b>$::request::UPLOAD(channelname)</b></code><br> The
name of a Tcl channel which may be used to manipulate the
uploaded file. If Dtcl_UploadFilesToVar is set, this
variable doesn't get created. If no file is passed to the
server, this variable does not exist! Be sure to check for
this.<br>
<code><b>$::request::UPLOAD(data)</b></code><br>
Contents of the uploaded file, if Dtcl_UploadFilesToVar is
set.<br>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>4) Internals</h3>
<ul>
<li><b>Read the code!</b></li>
<li>
<b>Initialization</b><br>
When Apache is started, (or when child Apache
processes are started if a threaded Tcl is used),
<code>tcl_init_stuff</code> is called, which creates
a new interpreter, and initializes various things,
like the <code>apache_channel</code> channel system.
The caching system is also set up, and if there is a
GlobalScript, it is run.
</li>
<li><b>Achan/apache_channel</b><br>
The "Apache Channel" system was created so that it is
possible to have an actual Tcl channel that we could
redirect standard output to. This lets us use, for
instance, the regular "puts" command in .ttml pages.
It works by creating commands that write to memory
that is slated to be sent to the client.
</li>
<li><b>Page parsing/execution</b><br>
In <code>send_parsed_file</code> Each .ttml file is
loaded and run within its own namespace. No new
interpreter is created for each page. This lets you
share variables, and most importantly, loaded modules,
from a common parent (such as one of the InitScripts).
When a file is loaded, it is transformed into a Tcl
script by putting everything outside of &lt;? and
?&gt; into large hputs statements. When the script is
complete, it is then inserted into the cache, for
future use. In fact, if the file modification
information doesn't change, mod_dtcl will execute the
cached version of the script the next time it is
encountered.
</li>
<li><b>Binary data</b><br>
mod_dtcl is capable of outputing binary data, such as
images, or loading binary data with 'include'.
</li>
</ul>
<h3>5) Upgrading From Older (< 0.9.3) Versions</h3>
<ul>
<li><b>New tags</b><br> As of version 0.9.4, mod_dtcl uses
&lt;? and ?&gt; instead of &lt;+ and +&gt; to delimit
sections of Tcl code. By default, dtcl is still compiled
with code to parse the &lt;? ?&gt; tags, but it will run
faster if <code>USE_OLD_TAGS</code> is set to 0 in
<code>mod_dtcl.h</code>. You can automatically change your
.ttml files to the new format by using the
<code>newtags.sh</code> script in the contrib/ directory.
Run it at the top level of your DocumentRoot.
</li>
<li><b>headers setcookie</b><br>
The <code>headers setcookie</code> command now uses the
<code>-name</code> and <code>-value</code> flags for those
arguments, whereas this was not necessary in the past.
</li>
</ul>
<h3>6) Getting Help</h3>
<ul>
<li><b>Mailing list</b><br>
<p>
The mod_dtcl mailing list is the best place to go for help
when you have problems.
</p>
<p>
See the <a
href="http://tcl.apache.org/mod_dtcl/contact.html">Contact</a>
page for information on sending
mail/subscribing.
</p>
<p>
Mailing list archives are also available at <a
href="http://archive.covalent.net">http://archive.covalent.net</a>,
at the bottom of the page.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
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