Stopping an HTTP::Server::Simple server

[jaldhar]

For a web application, I'm trying to use CGI::Application::Server, a subclass of HTTP::Server::Simple in my modules' tests. So I want to create a server, do the tests and then destroy it when I've finished the tests. The creating is straightforward but how do I say "ok stop now."

Also is there a way to say "start on a guaranteed unused port"? Right now as a workaround, I start at 9323, if the server doesn't start then I add 1 and try again and so on until I get to 9330 when I bail out completely but this doesn't seem to elegant.

[Corion]

I've done something similar in the time before HTTP::Server::Simple with Test::HTTP::LocalServer.

I use a special URL to tell my server that I'm done with it, normally /quit.

As I launch the server as a child process, I have it output the URL where it can be found, so I get an "always unused port" there.

As an aside, why are you launching a server at all, when you can just require the server module and call the ->handler() or ->handle_request() yourself?

[erroneousBollock]

Perhaps you can use the background() method of the HTTP::Server::Simple object, which runs the server in the background (I assume it forks) and returns the PID of the running server. When you're done testing you can send a KILL signal to that PID.

-David

[textual]

I'm facing the same problem, though not in a testing situation.

Following Corion's advice, I'm trying to pass the server's PID (returned by its background() method) to a handler that will be responsible for killing it.

My problem is that I can't find a way to pass the PID to the handler.

I've tried several things which all end up the same way when I access the url associated to the handler: the PID's value has not been passed and Perl "Can't kill a non-numeric process ID".

I've tried this (where the setup is maximally contrived for brevity):

A) Store PID as a global in the main package and access it from the server package.

In test.pl:

use strict;
use warnings;

use MyWebServer;

my  $server = MyWebServer->new(8080);
our $pid    = $server->background();

And in Webserver.pm:

package MyWebServer;

use strict;
use warnings;

use HTTP::Server::Simple::CGI;
use base qw(HTTP::Server::Simple::CGI);

sub handle_request {
    kill 9, $main::pid;
}

1;

B) Store PID as a global in the server package and set it in the main package.

In test.pl:

use strict;
use warnings;

use MyWebServer;

my $server        = MyWebServer->new(8080);
$MyWebServer::pid = $server->background();

And in Webserver.pm:

package MyWebServer;

use strict;
use warnings;

our $pid;

use HTTP::Server::Simple::CGI;
use base qw(HTTP::Server::Simple::CGI);

sub handle_request {
    kill 9, $pid;
}

1;

C) Store the PID in a separate module used by test.pl and webserver.pm.

In test.pl:

use strict;
use warnings;

use Pid;
use MyWebServer;

my $server = MyWebServer->new(8080);
Pid->set($server->background());

In Webserver.pm:

package MyWebServer;

use strict;
use warnings;

use Pid;

use HTTP::Server::Simple::CGI;
use base qw(HTTP::Server::Simple::CGI);

sub handle_request {
    kill 9, Pid->get();
}

1;

And in Pid.pm:

package Pid;

use strict;
use warnings;

my $pid;

sub get {
    my $package = shift;
     return $pid;
}

sub set {
    my $package = shift;
    $pid = shift;
}

1;

I've tried even more esoteric things until I started to feel like Wile E. Coyote, so I think it's time I submit this problem to you.

Any advice would be welcome, and so would any explanation as to what I fail to understand.

[Corion]

Maybe take a look at what you actually get in $pid before trying to kill it? .

[textual]

It's actually not defined.