in reply to mod_perl vs. mod_php in multi-user environments
In mod_php an actually executed script is one limited scope within the "big program" that runs all the time, just like a mod_perl handler, but from within that scope you don't have acces to any data "above in the big program"", with mod_perl you have that access and can manipulate that "big program" and that enables you to a) do many much cooler things with mod_perl and b) do many nasty things and break more. Imagine a wrapper under mod_perl that executes a handler and causes _any_ variable in that handler to be declared via my() by default, even those who already exist as globals.
# in PHP this code: $foo = 'abc'; # creats such a private variable # in Perl $foo = 'abc'; # would change the package global $foo # or yield an error under strict
Then the handler code would be limited to it very self, comparable to a PHP script. It could still store persistent information through limited interfaces (like the mysql_ functions of PHP). In mod_php that "big program" is not a PHP script itself and there are no "superglobal" PHP variables, in mod_perl there is a "big program" that has a globel scope.
Such a wrapper would mean to emulate Perl with some changes in the guts (concering limitation of access to global variables, sounds strange, is strange).
--http://fruiture.de
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