Re: [MacPerl] file upload CGI

[David Steffen <steffen@biomedcomp.com>]

Erik Olson wrote:
>> What web servers support more than 32k data output from a CGI?
>> I am stuck with WebStar, which doesn't, except through a
>> save-to-file hack I found on the web. (Tech support suggested I
>> switch to Tango or somesuch. Grr...)

...and John Baxter replied
>There hasn't been a 32K limit in the Apple events for YEARS.  Chuck
>put the limit into WebStar partly because the older System versions
>which did have the limit were unfortunately still important at the
>time, and partly for other reasons related to implementation.
>
>WebStar provides a protocol for sending a large response (or one you
>want the user to see incrementally for some reason) in a series of
>events.  It's been years since I played with it...it worked fine for
>me from Frontier when I did exercise it.

By "a protocol" I assume you refer to .acgi vs .cgi, John.

As I understand it, this works fine from Frontier, which supports threads.
The current version of MacPerl does not support threads which impacts its
use in CGIs.  While a MacPerl CGI is running, no other MacPerl programs can
run, including the same or another CGI.  If the MacPerl CGI is saved with
the .cgi extension, WebSTAR will simply queue requests to MacPerl CGIs so
they will be serviced one after another, but all the output from the CGI
will be returned at once.  If the MacPerl CGI is saved with the .acgi
extension, then it can return output incrementally, but at least in some
cases, CGI requests received while the first CGI is running can be dropped,
and under some circumstances, they can even crash the Mac.  For this
reason, I have stopped saving MacPerl CGIs as .acgi; the limitations are
unfortunate, but at least behavior is deterministic.

-David-

--
David Steffen, Ph.D.
President, Biomedical Computing, Inc. <http://www.biomedcomp.com/>
Phone: (713) 610-9770 FAX: (713) 610-9769 E-mail: steffen@biomedcomp.com

David Steffen, Ph.D.
President, Biomedical Computing, Inc. <http://www.biomedcomp.com/>
Phone: (713) 610-9770 FAX: (713) 610-9769 E-mail: steffen@biomedcomp.com



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