Hi,

This is the Apache::Filter module.  It is meant to run under Apache's
mod_perl.  

The purpose of this module is to allow a chain of content filters,
i.e. one bunch of Perl code (a handler) can produce some output
(e.g. a Perl script generating some HTML), and then that output can be
run through another handler (like Apache::SSI, for processing SSI
directives), and so on.  This is known as 'chaining' handlers, or in
the parlance of this module, creating 'Filters'.

It provides functionality similar to Apache::OutputChain, but with a nicer
interface (filters are listed in forward order, not reverse, in httpd.conf;
and you don't need to write two separate modules, one which chains and one
which doesn't [e.g. Apache::SSI and Apache::SSIChain]).

Several of the content-generation modules on CPAN can run under
Apache::Filter - these are known as "Filter-aware" modules.  Some
examples are Apache::SSI, HTML::Mason, Apache::PerlRun (using the
derived class Apache::PerlRunFilter in this distribution), and others.
You can also write your own.  A couple examples of filters are
provided with this distribution in the t/ subdirectory: UC.pm converts
all its input to upper-case, and Reverse.pm prints the lines of its
input reversed.

For more specific information, please see the documentation inside Filter.pm,
by doing "pod2txt Filter.pm", or "perldoc Apache::Filter" once you've
installed the module.

To install the module:

   <make sure mod_perl is installed>
   perl Makefile.PL
   make
   make test
   make install


-Ken Williams