NAME

Apache::Preompress - Deliver already compressed files or decompress on the fly

SYNOPSIS

  PerlModule Apache::Precompress
  
        # Handle regular files, ie index.html.gz
        # Incoming request would be index.html
        <Directory "your-docroot/compressdfilesdir">
                SetHandler perl-script
                PerlHandler Apache::Precompress
        </Directory>

        # Handle files by given extension .gzhtml
        <FilesMatch "\.gzhtml$">
                SetHandler perl-script
                PerlHandler Apache::Precompress
        </FilesMatch>

        # You want to use SSI but your templates are compressed
        AddHandler server-parsed .html
        <FilesMatch "\.shtml$">
                Options +Includes
                PerlSetVar  SSI  1
        </FilesMatch>

        # You have a compressed web page and a mix of compressed
        # and uncompressed templates. You'll need Apache::Filter
        # and Apache::SSI
        PerlModule Apache::Filter
        PerlModule Apache::Precompress
        PerlModule Apache::SSI
        <FilesMatch "\.html$">  # or whatever
                SetHandler perl-script
                PerlSetVar Filter On
                PerlSetVar  SSI  1
                PerlHandler Apache::Precompress Apache::SSI
        </FilesMatch>
        

DESCRIPTION

This module lets you send pre-compressed files as though they were not. For those clients that do not support compressed content, the file is de-compressed on the fly.

This module overcomes the overhead of having to compress data on the fly by keeping the data compressed on disk at all times. The driving force behind this approach was that I couldn't afford to upgrade my ISP account to have more disk space. The effective savings on bandwidth are also quite handy.

This module handles SSI very well. If you just want compressed templates then you won't need Apache::Filter or Apache::SSI. However, if you want compressed templates or pages (or both!) then, provided they are installed, simply follow the example configuration above. Do note, however, that the savings in bandwidth will be lost as this will be sent uncompressed down the pipe. This is a todo but will probably involve Apache::Compress (or something).

Otherwise you will have a normal page with garbled content intermingled within it.

Note

The intent of this module is to hide the fact that the content has been precompressed from the client. At no time should the client expect to call a file by anything other than its normal extension. Additionally, the content should not link to other content other than in the normal way, ie:

        <a href="/compressed/test.html">Valid</a>
        
        and not
        
        <a href="/compressed/test.html.gz">Invalid</a>

TO DO

The SSI handling requires the setting of a variable as otherwise we end up with compressed content within the middle of an uncompressed page. We should be to tell if we are called via ssi by some other means.

Also, support for Apache::SSI would be useful.

AUTHOR

Simon Proctor, www.simonproctor.com

Based on the work of Apache::Compress

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2002 Simon Proctor. All Rights Reserved.

This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

THANKS TO

belg4mit for valuable feedback