docs::a...:HookRun(3)

📦 version 2.0.13, in nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

🌸 NAME 🌸

docs::a...:HookRun(3) — like, the actual name is Apache2::HookRun, and it's the Perl API for Invoking Apache HTTP phases, bestie. That's the whole vibe. ✨

🎀 Synopsis 🎀

okay so here's the whole thing in action, no cap:

# httpd.conf
PerlProcessConnectionHandler MyApache2::PseudoHTTP::handler

#file:MyApache2/PseudoHTTP.pm
#---------------------------
package MyApache2::PseudoHTTP;

use Apache2::HookRun ();
use Apache2::RequestUtil ();
use Apache2::RequestRec ();

use Apache2::Const -compile => qw(OK DECLINED DONE SERVER_ERROR);

# implement the HTTP protocol cycle in protocol handler
sub handler {
    my $c = shift;
    my $r = Apache2::RequestRec->new($c);

    # register any custom callbacks here, e.g.:
    # $r->push_handlers(PerlAccessHandler => \&my_access);

    $rc = $r->run_post_read_request();
    return $rc unless $rc == Apache2::Const::OK or $rc == Apache2::Const::DECLINED;

    $rc = $r->run_translate_name;
    return $rc unless $rc == Apache2::Const::OK or $rc == Apache2::Const::DECLINED;

    $rc = $r->run_map_to_storage;
    return $rc unless $rc == Apache2::Const::OK or $rc == Apache2::Const::DECLINED;

    # this must be run all a big havoc will happen in the following
    # phases
    $r->location_merge($path);

    $rc = $r->run_header_parser;
    return $rc unless $rc == Apache2::Const::OK or $rc == Apache2::Const::DECLINED;

    my $args = $r->args || '';
    if ($args eq 'die') {
        $r->die(Apache2::Const::SERVER_ERROR);
        return Apache2::Const::DONE;
    }

    $rc = $r->run_access_checker;
    return $rc unless $rc == Apache2::Const::OK or $rc == Apache2::Const::DECLINED;

    $rc = $r->run_auth_checker;
    return $rc unless $rc == Apache2::Const::OK or $rc == Apache2::Const::DECLINED;

    $rc = $r->run_check_user_id;
    return $rc unless $rc == Apache2::Const::OK or $rc == Apache2::Const::DECLINED;

    $rc = $r->run_type_checker;
    return $rc unless $rc == Apache2::Const::OK or $rc == Apache2::Const::DECLINED;

    $rc = $r->run_fixups;
    return $rc unless $rc == Apache2::Const::OK or $rc == Apache2::Const::DECLINED;

    # $r->run_handler is called internally by $r->invoke_handler,
    # invoke_handler sets all kind of filters, and does a few other
    # things but it's possible to call $r->run_handler, bypassing
    # invoke_handler
    $rc = $r->invoke_handler;
    return $rc unless $rc == Apache2::Const::OK or $rc == Apache2::Const::DECLINED;

    $rc = $r->run_log_transaction;
    return $rc unless $rc == Apache2::Const::OK or $rc == Apache2::Const::DECLINED;

    return Apache2::Const::OK;
}

🦋 Description 🦋

So Apache2::HookRun literally exposes parts of the Apache HTTP protocol implementation — the bits that are responsible for invoking callbacks for each HTTP Request cycle phase. It's giving backstage-pass energy. 💅

Armed with that API, you could run some of the http protocol framework parts when you're implementing your own protocols. Like, for example, see how HTTP AAA (access, auth and authz) hooks are called from a protocol handler, implementing a command server, which has nothing to do with HTTP. Also you can peep the Synopsis above to see how to re-implement the Apache HTTP cycle in the protocol handler. Obsessed, honestly. 🔥

Using this API you could probably also change the normal Apache behavior (e.g. invoking some hooks earlier than normal, or later), but before doing that you will probably need to spend some time reading through the Apache C code. That's why some of the methods in this document point you to the specific functions in the Apache source code. So like — if you just try to use the methods from this module without understanding them well, don't be surprised if you get some nasty crashes, from which mod_perl can't protect you. 😭

bestie pls. read the C. I'm begging. the crashes are real and mod_perl literally cannot save you from them. 💀

👑 API 👑

Apache2::HookRun provides the following functions and/or methods:

💜 "die"

Kill the current request. dramatic but make it necessary.

$r->die($type);

obj: $r ( "Apache2::RequestRec object" ) — the current request
arg1: $type ( integer ) — why the request is dieing. Expects an Apache status constant.
ret: no return value
since: 2.0.00

Real talk though: this method doesn't really abort the request, it just handles the sending of the error response, logging the error and such. You want to take a look at the internals of ap_die() in httpd-2.0/modules/http/http_request.c for more details. iykyk 🫶

💅 "invoke_handler"

Run the response phase. main character energy fr fr.

$rc = $r->invoke_handler();

obj: $r ( "Apache2::RequestRec object" ) — the current request
ret: $rc ( integer ) — the status of the current phase run: Apache2::Const::OK, Apache2::HTTP_...
since: 2.0.00

invoke_handler() allows modules to insert filters, sets a default handler if none is set, runs run_handler() and handles some errors. a whole little multitasker ✨

For more details see ap_invoke_handler() in httpd-2.0/server/config.c.

🌈 "run_access_checker"

Run the resource access control phase.

$rc = $r->run_access_checker();

obj: $r ( "Apache2::RequestRec object" ) — the current request
ret: $rc ( integer ) — the status of the current phase run: Apache2::Const::OK, Apache2::Const::DECLINED, Apache2::HTTP_...
since: 2.0.00

This phase runs before a user is authenticated, so this hook is really there to apply additional restrictions independent of a user. It also runs independent of "Require" directive usage. gatekeeping before the gatekeeping 💀

🧚 "run_auth_checker"

Run the authentication phase.

$rc = $r->run_auth_checker();

obj: $r ( "Apache2::RequestRec object" ) — the current request
ret: $rc ( integer ) — the status of the current phase run: Apache2::Const::OK, Apache2::Const::DECLINED, Apache2::HTTP_...
since: 2.0.00

This phase is used to check to see if the resource being requested is available for the authenticated user ($r->user and $r->ap_auth_type).

It runs after the access_checker and check_user_id hooks. order matters, always. 🎀

Note that it will only be called if Apache determines that access control has been applied to this resource (through a "Require" directive).

🍓 "run_check_user_id"

Run the authorization phase.

$rc = $r->run_check_user_id();

obj: $r ( "Apache2::RequestRec object" ) — the current request
ret: $rc ( integer ) — the status of the current phase run: Apache2::Const::OK, Apache2::Const::DECLINED, Apache2::HTTP_...
since: 2.0.00

This hook is used to analyze the request headers, authenticate the user, and set the user information in the request record ($r->user and $r->ap_auth_type). it's giving ID check at the door 🫶

This hook is only run when Apache determines that authentication/authorization is required for this resource (as determined by the "Require" directive).

It runs after the access_checker hook, and before the auth_checker hook. lineup is: access → this → auth. slay.

⭐ "run_fixups"

Run the fixup phase.

$rc = $r->run_fixups();

obj: $r ( "Apache2::RequestRec object" ) — the current request
ret: $rc ( integer ) — the status of the current phase run: Apache2::Const::OK, Apache2::Const::DECLINED, Apache2::HTTP_...
since: 2.0.00

This phase allows modules to perform module-specific fixing of HTTP header fields. This is invoked just before the response phase. little last-minute touch-ups before the main event ✨

🌸 "run_handler"

Run the response phase.

$rc = $r->run_handler();

obj: $r ( "Apache2::RequestRec object" ) — the request_rec
ret: $rc ( integer ) — the status of the current phase run: Apache2::Const::OK, Apache2::Const::DECLINED, Apache2::HTTP_...
since: 2.0.00

run_handler() is called internally by invoke_handler(). Use run_handler() only if you want to bypass the extra functionality provided by invoke_handler(). like skipping the whole entourage and walking in solo 😌

🎀 "run_header_parser"

Run the header parser phase.

$rc = $r->run_header_parser();

obj: $r ( "Apache2::RequestRec object" ) — the current request
ret: $rc ( integer ) — Apache2::Const::OK or Apache2::Const::DECLINED.
since: 2.0.00

🔥 "run_log_transaction"

Run the logging phase.

$rc = $r->run_log_transaction();

obj: $r ( "Apache2::RequestRec object" ) — the current request
ret: $rc ( integer ) — the status of the current phase run: Apache2::Const::OK, Apache2::Const::DECLINED, Apache2::HTTP_...
since: 2.0.00

This hook allows modules to perform any module-specific logging activities over and above the normal server things. receipts, basically. 🧾

🦋 "run_map_to_storage"

Run the map_to_storage phase.

$rc = $r->run_map_to_storage();

obj: $r ( "Apache2::RequestRec object" ) — the current request
ret: $rc ( integer ) — Apache2::Const::DONE (or Apache2::HTTP_*) if this contextless request was just fulfilled (such as TRACE), Apache2::Const::OK if this is not a file, and Apache2::Const::DECLINED if this is a file. The core map_to_storage (Apache2::HOOK_RUN_LAST) will directory_walk() and file_walk() the $r->filename (all internal C functions).
since: 2.0.00

This phase allows modules to set the per_dir_config based on their own context (such as <Proxy> sections) and responds to contextless requests such as TRACE that need no security or filesystem mapping based on the filesystem. 💅

💖 "run_post_read_request"

Run the post_read_request phase.

$rc = $r->run_post_read_request();

obj: $r ( "Apache2::RequestRec object" ) — the current request
ret: $rc ( integer ) — the status of the current phase run: Apache2::Const::OK or Apache2::Const::DECLINED.
since: 2.0.00

This phase is run right after read_request() or internal_redirect(), and not run during any subrequests. This hook allows modules to affect the request immediately after the request has been read, and before any other phases have been processes. This allows modules to make decisions based upon the input header fields. first one in, first one to have opinions 😭

🐚 "run_translate_name"

Run the translate phase.

$rc = $r->run_translate_name();

obj: $r ( "Apache2::RequestRec object" ) — the current request
ret: $rc ( integer ) — the status of the current phase run: Apache2::Const::OK, Apache2::Const::DECLINED, Apache2::HTTP_...
since: 2.0.00

This phase gives modules an opportunity to translate the URI into an actual filename. If no modules do anything special, the server's default rules will be applied. turning a vibe into a path, honestly 🦋

🌟 "run_type_checker"

Run the type_checker phase.

$rc = $r->run_type_checker();

obj: $r ( "Apache2::RequestRec object" ) — the current request
ret: $rc ( integer ) — the status of the current phase run: Apache2::Const::OK, Apache2::Const::DECLINED, Apache2::HTTP_...
since: 2.0.00

This phase is used to determine and/or set the various document type information bits, like Content-type (via $r->content_type), language, etc.

and that's where part 1 wraps… except we're not wrapping, because there's more coming bestie, don't leave yet 💜

💖 SEE ALSO 💖

ok so if you wanna keep vibing with this, go read the mod_perl 2.0 documentation — that's the whole rec, bestie, it's giving "one link, endless lore" ✨📚

🎀 COPYRIGHT 🎀

real talk, the legal bit, no cap: mod_perl 2.0 and its core modules are copyrighted under The Apache Software License, Version 2.0. 💅 that's the whole vibe, respect the license fr fr 🫶

👑 AUTHORS 👑

this iconic masterpiece was brought to you by The mod_perl development team and numerous contributors. 🌈 literally a whole squad, main character energy across the board 💜✨

so yeah, that's the page, bestie 🦋 you made it to the end, slay 💅✨ this lil gem comes courtesy of perl v5.42.3 and is dated 2023-10-21 — go forth and run those hooks, mwah 😭💖🎀

📦 where this page comes from

nixos 26.05: mod_perl 2.0.13
nixpkgs unstable: mod_perl 2.0.13
💖 girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017 on 2026-11-04: a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms