On selected operating systems this module can be used to load modules into Apache at runtime via the Dynamic Shared Object (DSO) mechanism, rather than requiring a recompilation.
On Unix, the loaded code typically comes from shared object
files (usually with .so extension), on Windows
this may either the .so or .dll
extension.
Apache 1.3 modules cannot be directly used with Apache 2.0 - the module must be modified to dynamically load or compile into Apache 2.0.
The module name format changed for Windows with Apache 1.3.15 and 2.0 - the modules are now named as mod_foo.so
While mod_so still loads modules with ApacheModuleFoo.dll names, the new naming convention is preferred; if you are converting your loadable module for 2.0, please fix the name to this 2.0 convention.
The Apache module API is unchanged between the Unix and Windows versions. Many modules will run on Windows with no or little change from Unix, although others rely on aspects of the Unix architecture which are not present in Windows, and will not work.
When a module does work, it can be added to the server in
one of two ways. As with Unix, it can be compiled into the
server. Because Apache for Windows does not have the
Configure program of Apache for Unix, the module's
source file must be added to the ApacheCore project file, and
its symbols must be added to the
os\win32\modules.c file.
The second way is to compile the module as a DLL, a shared
library that can be loaded into the server at runtime, using
the
To create a module DLL, a small change is necessary to the
module's source file: The module record must be exported from
the DLL (which will be created later; see below). To do this,
add the AP_MODULE_DECLARE_DATA (defined in the
Apache header files) to your module's module record definition.
For example, if your module has:
Replace the above with:
Note that this will only be activated on Windows, so the
module can continue to be used, unchanged, with Unix if needed.
Also, if you are familiar with .DEF files, you can
export the module record with that method instead.
Now, create a DLL containing your module. You will need to link this against the libhttpd.lib export library that is created when the libhttpd.dll shared library is compiled. You may also have to change the compiler settings to ensure that the Apache header files are correctly located. You can find this library in your server root's modules directory. It is best to grab an existing module .dsp file from the tree to assure the build environment is configured correctly, or alternately compare the compiler and link options to your .dsp.
This should create a DLL version of your module. Now simply
place it in the modules directory of your server
root, and use the
The LoadFile directive links in the named object files or libraries when the server is started or restarted; this is used to load additional code which may be required for some module to work. Filename is either an absolute path or relative to ServerRoot.
For example:
The LoadModule directive links in the object file or library
filename and adds the module structure named
module to the list of active modules. Module
is the name of the external variable of type
module in the file, and is listed as the Module Identifier
in the module documentation. Example:
loads the named module from the modules subdirectory of the ServerRoot.