The Apache Modules Book: Application Development with Apache

Chapter 6. Request Processing Cycle and Metadata Handlers

Before returning contents to the client, Apache needs to examine the HTTP request with reference to the server configuration. Much of the Apache standard code is concerned with this task, and sometimes we may need to write a new module to support different behavior. Such modules work by hooking into the early parts of request processing, before any content generator is invoked, and sometimes by diverting or aborting the entire request.

In this chapter, we will first review the metadata sent to the server in an HTTP request. We will then see how the standard modules in Apache deal with this in handling a request. Finally, we will develop a new module.

Note that there is no universally ...