NAME
Apache::ConfigFile - Parse an Apache style httpd.conf configuration file
SYNOPSIS
#
# Parse the standard Apache httpd.conf
#
use Apache::ConfigFile;
my $ac = Apache::ConfigFile->read("/etc/apache/httpd.conf");
# You can get at individual configuration commands using
# the cmd_config() method:
my $hostname = $ac->cmd_config('ServerName');
my $doc_root = $ac->cmd_config('DocumentRoot');
# Multiple values are returned as a list, meaning that you
# can directly assign them to an array:
my @perlmods = $ac->cmd_config('PerlModule');
# And, you can use the cmd_config_hash() routine to get at
# multiple settings where the first is a type of "key":
my %ftypes = $ac->cmd_config_hash('FileTypeSuffix');
# Then, you can reset the context of the calls using the
# cmd_context() method so that you are accessing the
# appropriate values. For example, if you had a context
# block like
#
#
# ServerName "www.mydomain.com"
# DocumentRoot "/www/mydomain.com/htdocs"
#
#
# You would get to this definition via:
my $vh = $ac->cmd_context(VirtualHost => '10.1.1.2');
my $vhost_server_name = $vh->cmd_config('ServerName');
my $vhost_doc_root = $vh->cmd_config('DocumentRoot');
# If you had multiple VirtualHost declarations for a
# given IP (as would be the case if you're using
# NameVirtualHosts), you could cycle through them with:
for my $vh ($ac->cmd_context(VirtualHost => '10.1.1.3')) {
my $vhost_server_name = $vh->cmd_config('ServerName');
my $vhost_doc_root = $vh->cmd_config('DocumentRoot');
}
# In fact, even better you can "search" for one by specifying
# an additional set of criteria to cmd_config(). To just get
# the VirtualHost "docs.mydomain.com", for example, try:
my $docs_svr = $ac->cmd_context(VirtualHost => '10.1.1.3',
ServerName => 'docs.mydomain.com');
my $docs_base_dir = $docs_svr->cmd_config('DocumentRoot');
# In addition, this module will automatically autoload
# directive-based functions, meaning you can get to
# commonly-used commands by name:
my $host = $ac->server_name;
my $root = $ac->server_root;
my $html = $ac->document_root;
# You also get the mod_perl dir_config() command to get
# at PerlSetVar declarations by name. So, the block:
#
#
# SetHandler perl-script
# PerlHandler Apache::MyApp
# PerlSetVar MyAppRoot "/usr/myapp"
# PerlSetVar MyAppRefresh "30m"
#
#
# Would be accessed as:
my $loc = $ac->cmd_context(Location => '/myapp');
my $app_root = $loc->dir_config('MyAppRoot');
my $app_refr = $loc->dir_config('MyAppRefresh');
# Finally, you get two other utility methods. The first
# will return the current data structure verbatim, and
# the second one will return a dump which you can print
# out or parse or whatever:
my %config = $self->data;
warn "DEBUG: ", $self->dump, "\n";
DESCRIPTION
This module parses the Apache httpd.conf, or any compatible config file,
and provides methods for you to access the values from the config file.
The above examples show basic usage of this module, which boils down to
reading a given config file and then using the "cmd_config()" and
"cmd_context()" functions to access its information.
By default, the config file is parsed more or less "verbatim", meaning
that directives are case-sensitive, variables are not interpolated, and
so forth. These features can be changed by options given to the "read()"
function (see below).
The "read()" function is the constructor, which reads in a configuration
file and returns an object with methods that can be used to access
directives from the file. The simplest usage is something like this:
use Apache::ConfigFile;
my $ac = Apache::ConfigFile->read("/path/to/httpd.conf");
Which would parse the Apache "httpd.conf" file and give you back an
"$ac" object with the following methods:
cmd_config()
Used to access individual configuration commands
cmd_context()
Used to change the context of the commands you're accessing
dir_config()
Used to access values set via the "PerlSetVar" command (like
"mod_perl")
For more examples of standard Apache usage, you should read the the
section on "SYNOPSIS" above or skip down to the the section on
"FUNCTIONS".
In addition to reading an Apache config file, this module provides some
options that allow the Apache syntax to be extended. This is useful if
you're writing your own application and want to use a config file
resembling Apache's.
use Apache::ConfigFile;
my $ac = Apache::ConfigFile->read(
file => "/path/to/httpd.conf",
ignore_case => 1,
expand_vars => 1,
fix_booleans => 1
);
These options would allow us to write a custom config file looking like
this:
BaseDir "/export"
ImageDir "$BaseDir/images"
BuildDir "$BaseDir/images"
OfficialName "Software Update 7"
BuildPath "$BuildDir/sw7/REL"
Platforms Solaris Linux IRIX HP-UX
Supported Yes
Then, you would be able to access it as follows:
use Apache::ConfigFile;
my $swcfg = Apache::ConfigFile->read("releases.conf");
# Note that case does not matter
my $rel = $swcfg->cmd_context(release => 'sw7');
my $ofn = $rel->cmd_config('bUiLdPaTh');
# This is autoloading + fix_booleans
unless ($rel->supported) {
die "Sorry, that release is not supported";
}
There are several things to note. First, all our "cmd_" functions are
now case-insensitive, since we turned on the "ignore_case" flag (which
is off by default). Second, notice a couple things about our "unless"
statement. Since we specified "fix_booleans", the words "Yes", "True",
and "On" will be converted to "1" (true), and "No", "False", and "Off"
will become "0" (false). As such, we can use these directives in boolean
statements throughout our code.
In addition, since this module provides autoloading so that all config
commands are turned into functions, you can access values directly, as
shown by the statement "$rel->supported". This statement is equivalent
to the longer "$rel->cmd_config('supported')".
Finally, if you just wish to manually navigate the data structure (which
is a huge hash of hashes of arrays) without using the accessor
functions, you can return the thing verbatim:
my %conf = $ac->data;
print "Release is $conf{'release'}\n";
However, note that the internal representation is subject to change, so
using the accessor functions is recommended.
FUNCTIONS
read(filename)
read(file => filename, opt => val, opt => val)
The "read()" function reads the configuration file specified and returns
an object with methods to access its directives. "read()" has two
calling forms. In the simplest version, you just specify a filename, and
a new "Apache::ConfigFile" object is returned. Or, if you want to
specify options, you specify each one as a key/value pair. For example:
# keep default options
my $ac = Apache::ConfigFile->read("httpd.conf");
# override the case sensitivity and boolean translation
my $ac = Apache::ConfigFile->read(file => "httpd.conf",
ignore_case => 1,
fix_booleans => 1);
The list of valid options is:
file
Path to configuration file. If not provided then
"/usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf" is used by default.
ignore_case
If set to 1, then all directives will be case-insensitive and stored
in lowercase. Defaults to 0.
fix_booleans
If set to 1, then the words "Yes", "True", and "On" will be
converted to "1" (true), and "No", "False", and "Off" will become
"0" (false). This allows you to easily use these types of directives
in if statements. Defaults to 0.
expand_vars
If set to 1, then you can reuse variables that you have defined
elsewhere in the config file by prefixing them with a "$". For
example:
BaseDir "/export"
HomeDir "$BaseDir/home"
Currently, you can only reuse variables defined at the very
top-level. Variables defined within context blocks of any kind
cannot be reused.
raise_error
If set to 1, any type of error becomes fatal. Defaults to 0.
cmd_config(directive)
This is the meat-and-potatoes of the module; the method that lets you
access configuration directives from your file. Examples:
my $server_name = $ac->cmd_config('ServerName');
my $doc_root = $ac->cmd_config('DocumentRoot');
This is a fairly straightforward function. You just give it the name of
the directive you wish to access and you get its value back. Each time
you call it, you will get the value for the next available instance of
that variable. If called in a scalar context, you will just get the
first value, assumed to be the "key".
What this means is that if you have a config file like this:
ErrorDocument 404 /errors/404.cgi
ErrorDocument 500 /errors/500.cgi
To get each line you would use a "while" loop:
while (my @line = $ac->cmd_config('ErrorDocument')) {
print "For error $line[0] we're using $line[1]\n";
}
Which should print:
For error 404 we're using /errors/404.cgi
For error 500 we're using /errors/500.cgi
Now, if you just wanted to get the error codes that were being handled,
you would still use a "while" loop but in a scalar context:
while (my $code = $ac->cmd_config('ErrorDocument')) {
print "We're handling $code\n";
}
Which should print:
We're handling 404
We're handling 500
If you want more flexibility, read the following two functions.
cmd_config_array(directive)
This returns the entire data structure for a given directive as an array
of arrays. So, you could get all the "ErrorDocument" configs by saying:
my @errors = $ac->cmd_config_array('ErrorDocument');
Then, you would have to iterate over these yourself, since each element
is an array reference:
for my $e (@errors) {
print "Code is $e->[0] and script is $e->[1]\n";
}
Which should print:
Code is 404 and script is /errors/404.cgi
Code is 500 and script is /errors/500.cgi
Assuming the same configuration as above.
cmd_config_hash(directive)
This is perhaps the most useful form. It returns a set of key/value
pairs where the key is the first element and the value is the rest of
the line. This is great for handling "FileTypeSuffix" or "AddHandler"
lines, for example:
my %handler = $ac->cmd_config_hash('AddHandler');
This would return a hash where the keys would be the first field, such
as "cgi-script" or "server-parsed", and value is the remaining line as
an array reference.
As such, you could access a specific one as:
print "Suffixes for CGI scripts are: @{$handler{cgi-script}}\n";
Which should print out something like this:
Suffixes for CGI scripts are: .cgi .pl
Note that you had to derefence the value inside of a "@{}" since the
value is an array reference. This is so that you can get a list of
values reliably. For example:
my %handler = $ac->cmd_config_hash('AddHandler');
my @cgi_suffixes = @{$handler{cgi-script}};
my @shtml_suffixed = @{$handler{server-parsed}};
That way you get the proper values even in the case of embedded
whitespace. In addition, it allows you to define your own complex
directives:
# Format: key "Real Name" option1 option2 option3
CustomField lname "Last Name"
CustomField ctry "Country" US CA MX JP Other
Then in your code:
my %custom_field = $ac->cmd_config_hash('CustomField');
while(my($key, $val) = each %custom_field) {
my $label = shift(@$val) || ucfirst($key);
# see if we have any options remaining
if (@$val) {
# have options; create select list
print qq($label: \n);
} else {
# no options; text field
print qq($label: \n);
}
}
That way you could use an Apache style config file to setup a custom
form based application.
cmd_context(context => specification)
You use this command to change the current context of what you are
looking at. When you start, you are looking at the very top-level of the
config file. However, you may want to look at a specific virtual host or
directory. You can do so with this command.
my $vhost = $ac->cmd_context(VirtualHost => '10.1.1.2');
my $server_name = $vhost->cmd_config('ServerName');
my $doc_root = $vhost->cmd_config('DocumentRoot');
You'll notice that the "cmd_context()" call returns an object will all
the same methods, but the data structure now starts from that point
down. The context has been altered so that you are looking at the
"". block. As such, any commands that you do
will affect that part of the configuration.
In some cases, you may have multiple definitions for a certain context
level. One example is "VirtualHost" blocks if you're using
"NameVirtualHosts". You have two options. First, you could cycle through
all of them in sequence:
for my $vhost ($ac->cmd_context(VirtualHost => '10.1.1.2')) {
# ... do stuff ...
}
However, you may not know what you're looking for. In this case, if you
just want to get the "keys" of all the "VirtualHost" definitions and
then iterate through all of them, you might do something like this:
my @vhkeys = $ac->cmd_context('VirtualHost');
for my $vhkey (@vhkeys) {
my $vhost = $ac->cmd_context(VirtualHost => $vhkey);
}
Note that this is the one situation where the "cmd_context()" function
does *not* return an object, but rather a list of string keys.
Conversely, you may know *exactly* which one you're looking for. If so,
you can specify one additional "search" parameter. For example, if you
want the "superfoo" server, you could say:
my $sf = $ac->cmd_context(VirtualHost => '10.1.1.2',
ServerName => 'superfoo');
And this would look for a context block that looked something like this:
ServerName "superfoo"
# ... more config options ...
you can easily access nested configurations as well. If you had a
configuration like this:
SetHandler perl-script
PerlHandler Apache::MyUploadModule
PerlSetVar MyUploadModuleMaxsize "5M"
PerlSetVar MyUploadModuleTimeout "300s"
require user "bob"
require user "jim"
And you wanted to find out what the valid users were who could access
this page, you would navigate it like so:
my $loc = $ac->cmd_context(Location => '/upload');
my $lim = $loc->cmd_context('Limit');
my @users = $lim->cmd_config('require');
Or, more succintly:
my @users = $ac->cmd_context(Location => '/upload')
->cmd_context(Limit => '')->cmd_config('require');
Since "cmd_context()" returns an object pointing to the next context,
you can chain calls together to get to a deeply nested level.
dir_config()
This routine is provided for "mod_perl" compatibility. It allows you to
access configuration commands specified via the "PerlSetVar" directive.
So, assuming the above example, you could access the settings for
"MyUploadModule" like so:
my $upload = $ac->cmd_context(Location => '/upload');
my $maxsize = $upload->dir_config('MyUploadModuleMaxsize');
my $timeout = $upload->dir_config('MyUploadModuleTimeout');
The idea is to provide an interface which walks and talks roughly like
Apache actually would.
data()
This returns the entire data structure under the current context
verabatim. So, you could get all the values for a "VirtualHost" with:
my $vh = $ac->cmd_context(VirtualHost => '10.1.1.4');
my %vhost = $vh->data;
If you specified "ignore_case", then all the keys will be lowercase;
otherwise, they will be in whatever case they are in the config file.
dump()
This returns a dump of the current data structure in string form. So for
debugging purposes you can dump the config with something like this:
warn "DUMP: ", $ac->dump, "\n";
reread()
You can use this function to reread the configuration file. For example,
maybe you want your application to reread its config if it receives a
"SIGHUP":
$SIG{HUP} = \&handler;
sub handler {
my $sig = shift;
if ($sig eq 'HUP') {
# reread our config file on kill -HUP
$config->reread;
}
}
The above would handle a "SIGHUP" by rereading the config file.
write([file])
This writes the configuration out to disk. If no file is specified, then
the one passed to "read()" is used. This method is currently under
development and does not work. Patches welcome.
autoloaded calls
In addition to the above, you can also access values by calling a
function named for the config command directly:
my $server_name = $ac->cmd_config('ServerName');
Is the same as:
my $server_name = $ac->server_name;
Underscores in the function name are taken as a place to put an
uppercase letter. So these are all equivalent:
my $doc_root = $ac->cmd_config('DocumentRoot');
my $doc_root = $ac->DocumentRoot; # looks silly
my $doc_root = $ac->document_root;
Note, though, that the following would not work unless you had set the
"ignore_case" option:
my $doc_root = $ac->documentroot; # won't work
This is because it will look for the directive "Documentroot", which
probably doesn't exist.
ALIASES
When I initially wrote this module, I tried to follow the internal
Apache API pretty closely. However, for those unfamiliar with Apache
these method names probably make little sense. As such, the following
function aliases are provided
directive
Same as "cmd_config()"
directive_array
Same as "cmd_config_array()"
directive_hash
Same as "cmd_config_hash()"
section
Same as "cmd_context()"
So this code:
my $vh = $ac->cmd_context(VirtualHost => '10.1.1.2');
my $vhost_server_name = $vh->cmd_config('ServerName');
my $vhost_doc_root = $vh->cmd_config('DocumentRoot');
my %error_handlers = $ac->cmd_config_hash('ErrorDocument');
Could be rewritten as the following and work exactly the same:
my $vh = $ac->section(VirtualHost => '10.1.1.2');
my $vhost_server_name = $vh->directive('ServerName');
my $vhost_doc_root = $vh->directive('DocumentRoot');
my %error_handlers = $ac->directive_hash('ErrorDocument');
These will always be supported so feel free to use them.
NOTES
Currently "LogFormat" and any other directive with embedded quotes, even
if escaped, are not handled correctly. I know there is a fix for it but
I have a mental block and can't figure it out. Help!
This module does not mimic the behavior of a live Apache config. In
particular, there is no configuration "inheritance". This means that
subdirectories and virtual hosts do not inherit their defaults from the
upper levels of the configuration. This may or may not change in a
future version.
Currently, the order of context blocks is not maintained. So, if you
define two blocks:
Options +MultiViews
Options +ExecCGI
There will be no way for you to tell the order in which these were
defined. Normally this should not matter, since the idea of a context
section is to create a logical entity. However, patches to overcome this
limitation are welcomed.
This module has only been tested and used on UNIX platforms. Patches to
fix problems with other OSes are welcome.
VERSION
$Id: ConfigFile.pm,v 1.18 2001/09/18 18:31:23 nwiger Exp $
AUTHOR
Copyright (c) 1999-2001, Nathan Wiger . All Rights
Reserved.
This module is free software; you may copy this under the terms of the
GNU General Public License, or the Artistic License, copies of which
should have accompanied your Perl kit.