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mod_perl sharp increase again

darobin on 2002-07-04T17:02:15

A few months back we happily noted that mod_perl has strongly rising numbers. This month though, as you can see here it went even farther up, to reach 30% of Apache installations. 30% of 60% being circa 20%, we can see that a fifth of the world's internet runs mod_perl.

So I'd say we're doing fine :-) The next target is to take over PHP that's at 38% but is making much slower progress (in total share it's even decreasing). Muahahahahaha.

I'm not sure that number means anything

mir on 2002-07-04T17:25:50

I run Mandrake on my home server, so after install it actually runs mod_perl, even though I really don't use it. I would bet that this situation is quite frequent: the default install includes mod_perl whether you use it or not.

Re:I'm not sure that number means anything

darobin on 2002-07-04T17:41:07

Well of course there is always that kind of default setup, but it doesn't invalidate the number imho. For one, how many professional webservers out there will run the default install? It would be rather dumb to run a modperl enabled server in production without using it (especially if you look at the memory footprint). Second point: the simple fact that it's available readily is very good, it means that someone wanting to try it out is less likely to be deterred by installation problems.

Re:I'm not sure that number means anything

koschei on 2002-07-04T23:14:49

And, if anything, the number of default installs that would have PHP would far outstrip the number with mod_perl.

Well...

Purdy on 2002-07-08T15:54:24

I have mod_perl installed, but hardly use it, too. I did write one program in mod_perl, but regret it in that it eats memory and took some learning to get it right (and I still think there's a bug or two in it). I would add to the argument that just because a server says it has mod_perl installed doesn't mean it's actually being used.

Jason

Re:Well...

darobin on 2002-07-09T02:03:47

This has come up before, and it's obvious that there are people that have modperl but don't use it (at all, or much). However the fact that the installed base is growing steadily is still a very good sign. For one, I guess that the proportion of people that are using it grows as well, and for the others having it installed means that if at any time they want to use it they won't have to go through the pains of downloading, installing, configuring, etc... it'll just be there for them to play with, which is a big incentive to pick modperl over anything else.

Re:Well...

Purdy on 2002-07-09T12:42:57

Agreed, and while I LOVE the power and control of mod_perl (not to mention being able to write in Perl, oh what a lovely language), there are just SO many design issues one must know/master before having a decent mod_perl program. Too many for the stuff I write, whose target audience is small and simple (and requires a fast turn-around).

Jason