This is a very experimental fork of mod_ruby. I’ve been using mod_ruby for about 6 years for my own projects, and I love it, but it has languished somewhat in recent years. I told Shugo (the author of the real version) that I’d help him out a few years ago, but up until recently I haven’t come through on my promise. With this fork, I aim to change that.

I mean to accomplish several things with my fork, with the eventual goal of hopefully getting them merged back into the official version as Shugo deems appropriate. These goals are (in no particular order):

• packaging/distribution
  • make it distributable as a Rubygem [90%]
  • add support for installation of handlers as gems
• documentation
  • replace the RD API documentation with YARD documentation [15%]
  • bring the existing (non-API) RD documentation up to date and teach YARD how to parse it with rdtool
  • add at least one example of each kind of Apache handler implemented in Ruby. Possibly porting examples from mod_perl and/or mod_python.
  • add at least three examples of how to use the BucketBrigade
  • investigate ways to add m17n support to YARD, and provide appropriate placeholders. Also: learn Japanese so I can do it myself, but that’s likely to take a while.
• testing
  • add a unit-testing framework based on RSpec 2 [99%]
  • add tests using the framework [15%]
  • figure out how to make gcov generate coverage statistics for tests
• modernization
  • make any necessary changes to run it under Ruby 1.9.2 and 1.8.7 [done]
  • add support for Ruby’s m17n where appropriate (default encoding, etc.)
  • remove support for EOL Apache versions (i.e., earlier than 2.2)
  • add support for Apache 2.4 when it’s released
    • support the check_config hook
    • steal features from mod_lua :)
  • remove ifdefs and workarounds for older versions of Apache/Ruby to make documentation/testing/maintenance easier, and to reduce fragility. [10%]
  • implement a configuration system like mod_perl’s that allows Apache to be configured using a Ruby DSL
• Rack compatibility
  • Add a Rack container handler class
• Passenger-like Status Tool (using the scoreboard?)

mod_ruby embeds the Ruby interpreter into the Apache web server, allowing one to write Apache handlers in pure Ruby. Oh, and it also speeds up CGIs, but that’s not nearly as interesting. ;)

• Ruby version 1.8.7 or 1.9.2
• Apache version 2.2.15 or later

This is just an experimental version of mod_ruby, and it’s not recommended that you actually use it for anything serious. Use the latest stable release instead. I know it’s old, but it’s quite usable still.

If you do want to play around with this version anyway, you can build the module like so:

$ rake compile -- --with-apr-includes=/path/to/apr/headers --with-apxs=/path/to/apxs

That will create the module in ext/mod_ruby.so. You can copy that to your server’s modules directory and then load it as suggested in examples/httpd.conf. You’ll also have to copy the stuff in lib to your site_lib manually. This will be rectified in the future.

The tests should detect where your modules directory is, and configure a minimal Apache to use while it’s testing, but I’ve currently only ever run it on a MacOS X box.

Assuming it figures everything out okay, you should be able to do:

$ rake spec

If you haven’t yet compiled the module, you’ll need to append the compilation flags as in the rake compile line described above.

This will use whichever httpd binary is first in your PATH, so you’ll want to adjust that if it’s not the one you want to use.

To get started using mod_ruby to write Apache handlers, it’s covered in more detail in writing-handlers.

• http://modruby.net/