Baldrick-stub

From CunningPlans

baldrick-stub is the loader for a Baldrick application running under the CGI interface.

It is not used for a mod_perl. The entry point for a mod_perl invocation of Baldrick is the Baldrick::Trousers class.

baldrick-stub should be copied into your CGI directory, or a subdirectory thereof, and copied or linked to every filename that you want Baldrick to handle.

Essentially, it is the main() of a Baldrick application. baldrick-stub's purpose is to load the Baldrick libraries, create a Baldrick::App object, and turn control over to that App. It also displays error messages if any of these steps fail.

A minimalist baldrick-stub appears at the end of this article, for convenience. The one included in the distribution archive is to be preferred, however, as it adds error handling.

[edit] Installing Baldrick::Stub

baldrick-stub may be found in the "scripts" directory of the distribution archive. It should be copied into your cgi-bin directory.

For example, if your Apache configuration contains this directive:

   ScriptAlias /bin /var/www/example.com/cgi-bin

and you want these URLs to be handled by Baldrick:

   /bin/shop
   /bin/chat
   /bin/forum

then you would perform these steps:

# (from wherever you unpacked Baldrick-0.XX.tgz:)
## Install baldrick-stub.
$ cp scripts/baldrick-stub /var/www/example.com/cgi-bin
$ cd /var/www/example.com/cgi-bin
$ chmod +x baldrick-stub    # make it executable

## Make aliases
$ ln -s baldrick-stub shop  # make aliases for it so the web server can find it.
$ ln -s baldrick-stub chat
$ ln -s baldrick-stub forum

(Don't have shell access? Just FTP a copy of baldrick-stub to each of these locations).

[edit] Baldrick Library Location

Main Article: File layout

The baldrick-stub, as shipped, assumes that you have a "lib" directory within your cgi-bin directory, and that the Baldrick perl modules have been installed there (under lib/Baldrick/ ), and that your own application's code will also be in "lib".

If this is not the case, edit baldrick-stub and change the "use lib" statement to point to the proper directory.

[edit] Minimalist baldrick-stub source

One possible baldrick-stub script (much shorter than the one in the distribution package):

#!/usr/bin/perl
use lib 'lib';                  # where to find the Baldrick libraries - edit this.
use Baldrick::Baldrick;         # load Baldrick::* libraries
new Baldrick::App()->run();     # create an App object and let it do its thing.

The current version, however, is a bit more complex - it does the same three steps, but handles errors better.