Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C

Lincoln Stein is an assistant investigator at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he develops databases and user interfaces for the Human Genome Project using the Apache server and its module API. He is the author of several books about programming for the web, including The Official Guide to CGI.pm , How to Set Up and Maintain a Web Site , and Web Security: A Step-by-Step Reference Guide .

Doug MacEachern has been addicted to Perl and web servers since early 1994 when he was introduced to Plexus as student employee at the University of Arizona. Soon after returning to his home town of Boston, Massachusetts, and entering the "real world," he discovered the Apache web server, and since early 1996, he has been gluing Perl into all its nooks and crannies. His day job has consisted of integrating various other technologies with the web, including DCE, Kerberos, and GSSAPI, but Perl has been the only one he cannot let go of.

Doug has continued as a developer disguised as a consultant since the start of 1998, spending most of his time between Auckland, New Zealand, and San Francisco, California, with time at home in Boston during the warmer months.

Doug likes to spend his time away from software--far, far away, sailing on the ocean, diving below it, or simply looking at it from a warm, sandy beach where technology doesn't go much beyond thatched huts and blenders.

The animal featured on the cover of Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C is a white-tailed eagle. These large sea eagles have a very large range and are therefore highly adaptable. They are mostly found in coastal areas, but can also be found in the tundra and steppes, forests, and mountains. They build huge nests in trees, bushes, cliffs, or on the ground, depending on what their environment offers.

Eagles fall into the category of bird known as "raptors," a category that also includes falcons and hawks. Like other sea eagles, white-tailed eagles have toes adapted to grasping smooth prey such as fish. Their excellent vision enables all eagles to spot prey from the air or a high perch. They frequently hunt in pairs for their favorite meal of diving birds. Keeping a sharp eye on the bird as it dives, the white-tailed eagle grabs it as soon as it resurfaces. Fish is another staple of the white-tailed eagle's diet. In fact, their diet is as adaptable as everything else about these birds. They will frequently eat fish in summer and waterfowl and carrion in winter, when fish are less plentiful.

Eagles often eat their victims while still flying, breaking them apart and discarding the nonedible parts to lighten their load. Eagles, like most raptors, often dine on sick or wounded animals.

There are more than 50 species of eagle spread throughout the world, with the exception of New Zealand and Antarctica. A pair of eagles will use the same nest year after year, lining it with green leaves and grass, fur, turf, or other soft materials and adding to it each year. The largest eagle nest ever found was 20 feet deep and 10 feet across.

White-tailed eagles are highly regarded, even revered, by many native populations of Siberia and Scandinavian fishermen. However, in other areas overhunting has almost led to their extinction. Increased awareness and limits on hunting have helped this majestic bird rebuild its population, and it is now considered to be safe.

Melanie Wang was the production editor and copy editor for this book, and Sheryl Avruch was the production manager. Sarah Jane Shangraw, Nicole Arigo, and Mary Anne Weeks Mayo provided quality control reviews. Betty Hugh and Sebastian Banker provided production support. Robert Romano created the illustrations using Adobe Photoshop 4 and Macromedia FreeHand 7. Mike Sierra provided FrameMaker technical support. Seth Maislin wrote the index.

Edie Freedman designed the cover of this book, using a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. The cover layout was produced by Kathleen Wilson with QuarkXPress 3.32 using the ITC Garamond font. The quick reference card was designed and produced by Kathleen Wilson.

The inside layout was designed by Alicia Cech and implemented in FrameMaker 5.5 by Mike Sierra. The text and heading fonts are ITC Garamond Light and Garamond Book. This colophon was written by Clairemarie Fisher O'Leary.

Whenever possible, our books use a durable and flexible lay-flat binding, either RepKover? or Otabind?. If the page count exceeds the maximum bulk possible for this type of binding, perfect binding is used.