Re: How do you use mod_perl for your web application?

> On Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 7:28 PM, Randolf Richardson <[email protected]> wrote:
> > I suspect that I wouldn't be running
> > into these issues with a framework system designed to work with
> > DBIx::Class.
> 
> I don't think mod_perl should have more trouble cooperating with

	Oh, please don't get me wrong -- I wasn't, for even a minute, 
thinking that mod_perl was the culprit.  When modules that add 
functionality like Java's "try {} catch {}" paradigms work just fine 
under mod_perl2, I have very little reason to doubt its capabilities.

> DBIx::Class than other web environments.  However, some of the people
> who use DBIx::Class are vocal mod_perl haters, so they may not give
> very good advice about how to set it up with mod_perl.

	I was hoping that this wasn't the case.  It's really a shame when 
someone hates a given technology.  I have encountered some people 
(not just in the DBIx::Class community) who have told me things like 
"you should be using FastCGI instead," or "you're crazy to not run 
mod_perl behind a proxy," etc., but I've already committed to using 
mod_perl2 for so many things, and for so many years, that I just 
write it off as "enthusiasm that's gone a bit too far."  I hope that 
the fact that I'm out there mentioning mod_perl2 from time-to-time, 
and without trying to push it on others, does help a little bit.

	One argument that I see come up a lot is "it hasn't been updated in 
years" as if regular updates are an important measurement.  I think 
that a product that works well and is based on quality code certainly 
has the potential to see fewer updates, but this does start some 
interesting debates about what a lot of unknown people are thinking.

> > A DBIx developer in IRC explained to me once that
> > DBIx::Class also goes to great lengths to shut off connection caching
> > from the Apache::DBI module -- after switching back to DBI, the
> > resulting performance gain has me wondering if this is correct.
> 
> You'll always get better performance from straight DBI than from ORMs
> like DBIx::Class or Rose::DB::Object.  They just save you some
> repetitive code for simple things.

	Yes, but I'm wondering if the caching being shut off in the ORM 
might be a major contributing factor as well because the difference 
is very noticeable (plus, for certain things I see a lot of extra SQL 
queries in the logs when I'm using the ORM), although it also wasn't 
performing poorly before switching to DBI (which I think is an 
excellent testimonial for mod_perl2's performance).

> Sounds like you're having a good time with your mod_perl stuff!  Good to hear.

	It's wonderful.  I just love how fast it is, and how well it 
integrates so closely with Apache HTTPd.  I've got a few friends 
getting interested in it lately (and one of them has been doing a lot 
of PHP development, but wants to find a way to go back to Perl, so I 
helped him get it working).

Randolf Richardson - [email protected]
Inter-Corporate Computer & Network Services, Inc.
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
http://www.inter-corporate.com