NAME
   HTTP::Daemon - a simple http server class

SYNOPSIS
     use HTTP::Daemon;
     use HTTP::Status;

     my $d = HTTP::Daemon->new || die;
     print "Please contact me at: <URL:", $d->url, ">\n";
     while (my $c = $d->accept) {
         while (my $r = $c->get_request) {
             if ($r->method eq 'GET' and $r->uri->path eq "/xyzzy") {
                 # remember, this is *not* recommended practice :-)
                 $c->send_file_response("/etc/passwd");
             }
             else {
                 $c->send_error(RC_FORBIDDEN)
             }
         }
         $c->close;
         undef($c);
     }

DESCRIPTION
   Instances of the `HTTP::Daemon' class are HTTP/1.1 servers that listen
   on a socket for incoming requests. The `HTTP::Daemon' is a subclass of
   `IO::Socket::INET', so you can perform socket operations directly on it
   too.

   The accept() method will return when a connection from a client is
   available. The returned value will be an `HTTP::Daemon::ClientConn'
   object which is another `IO::Socket::INET' subclass. Calling the
   get_request() method on this object will read data from the client and
   return an `HTTP::Request' object. The ClientConn object also provide
   methods to send back various responses.

   This HTTP daemon does not fork(2) for you. Your application, i.e. the
   user of the `HTTP::Daemon' is responsible for forking if that is
   desirable. Also note that the user is responsible for generating
   responses that conform to the HTTP/1.1 protocol.

   The following methods of `HTTP::Daemon' are new (or enhanced) relative
   to the `IO::Socket::INET' base class:

   $d = HTTP::Daemon->new
   $d = HTTP::Daemon->new( %opts )
       The constructor method takes the same arguments as the
       `IO::Socket::INET' constructor, but unlike its base class it can
       also be called without any arguments. The daemon will then set up a
       listen queue of 5 connections and allocate some random port number.

       A server that wants to bind to some specific address on the standard
       HTTP port will be constructed like this:

         $d = HTTP::Daemon->new(
                  LocalAddr => 'www.thisplace.com',
                  LocalPort => 80,
              );

       See IO::Socket::INET for a description of other arguments that can
       be used configure the daemon during construction.

   $c = $d->accept
   $c = $d->accept( $pkg )
   ($c, $peer_addr) = $d->accept
       This method works the same the one provided by the base class, but
       it returns an `HTTP::Daemon::ClientConn' reference by default. If a
       package name is provided as argument, then the returned object will
       be blessed into the given class. It is probably a good idea to make
       that class a subclass of `HTTP::Daemon::ClientConn'.

       The accept method will return `undef' if timeouts have been enabled
       and no connection is made within the given time. The timeout()
       method is described in IO::Socket.

       In list context both the client object and the peer address will be
       returned; see the description of the accept method IO::Socket for
       details.

   $d->url
       Returns a URL string that can be used to access the server root.

   $d->product_tokens
       Returns the name that this server will use to identify itself. This
       is the string that is sent with the `Server' response header. The
       main reason to have this method is that subclasses can override it
       if they want to use another product name.

       The default is the string "libwww-perl-daemon/#.##" where "#.##" is
       replaced with the version number of this module.

   The `HTTP::Daemon::ClientConn' is a `IO::Socket::INET' subclass.
   Instances of this class are returned by the accept() method of
   `HTTP::Daemon'. The following methods are provided:

   $c->get_request
   $c->get_request( $headers_only )
       This method reads data from the client and turns it into an
       `HTTP::Request' object which is returned. It returns `undef' if
       reading fails. If it fails, then the `HTTP::Daemon::ClientConn'
       object ($c) should be discarded, and you should not try call this
       method again on it. The $c->reason method might give you some
       information about why $c->get_request failed.

       The get_request() method will normally not return until the whole
       request has been received from the client. This might not be what
       you want if the request is an upload of a large file (and with
       chunked transfer encoding HTTP can even support infinite request
       messages - uploading live audio for instance). If you pass a TRUE
       value as the $headers_only argument, then get_request() will return
       immediately after parsing the request headers and you are
       responsible for reading the rest of the request content. If you are
       going to call $c->get_request again on the same connection you
       better read the correct number of bytes.

   $c->read_buffer
   $c->read_buffer( $new_value )
       Bytes read by $c->get_request, but not used are placed in the *read
       buffer*. The next time $c->get_request is called it will consume the
       bytes in this buffer before reading more data from the network
       connection itself. The read buffer is invalid after $c->get_request
       has failed.

       If you handle the reading of the request content yourself you need
       to empty this buffer before you read more and you need to place
       unconsumed bytes here. You also need this buffer if you implement
       services like *101 Switching Protocols*.

       This method always returns the old buffer content and can optionally
       replace the buffer content if you pass it an argument.

   $c->reason
       When $c->get_request returns `undef' you can obtain a short string
       describing why it happened by calling $c->reason.

   $c->proto_ge( $proto )
       Return TRUE if the client announced a protocol with version number
       greater or equal to the given argument. The $proto argument can be a
       string like "HTTP/1.1" or just "1.1".

   $c->antique_client
       Return TRUE if the client speaks the HTTP/0.9 protocol. No status
       code and no headers should be returned to such a client. This should
       be the same as !$c->proto_ge("HTTP/1.0").

   $c->head_request
       Return TRUE if the last request was a `HEAD' request. No content
       body must be generated for these requests.

   $c->force_last_request
       Make sure that $c->get_request will not try to read more requests
       off this connection. If you generate a response that is not self
       delimiting, then you should signal this fact by calling this method.

       This attribute is turned on automatically if the client announces
       protocol HTTP/1.0 or worse and does not include a "Connection:
       Keep-Alive" header. It is also turned on automatically when HTTP/1.1
       or better clients send the "Connection: close" request header.

   $c->send_status_line
   $c->send_status_line( $code )
   $c->send_status_line( $code, $mess )
   $c->send_status_line( $code, $mess, $proto )
       Send the status line back to the client. If $code is omitted 200 is
       assumed. If $mess is omitted, then a message corresponding to $code
       is inserted. If $proto is missing the content of the
       $HTTP::Daemon::PROTO variable is used.

   $c->send_crlf
       Send the CRLF sequence to the client.

   $c->send_basic_header
   $c->send_basic_header( $code )
   $c->send_basic_header( $code, $mess )
   $c->send_basic_header( $code, $mess, $proto )
       Send the status line and the "Date:" and "Server:" headers back to
       the client. This header is assumed to be continued and does not end
       with an empty CRLF line.

       See the description of send_status_line() for the description of the
       accepted arguments.

   $c->send_header( $field, $value )
   $c->send_header( $field1, $value1, $field2, $value2, ... )
       Send one or more header lines.

   $c->send_response( $res )
       Write a `HTTP::Response' object to the client as a response. We try
       hard to make sure that the response is self delimiting so that the
       connection can stay persistent for further request/response
       exchanges.

       The content attribute of the `HTTP::Response' object can be a normal
       string or a subroutine reference. If it is a subroutine, then
       whatever this callback routine returns is written back to the client
       as the response content. The routine will be called until it return
       an undefined or empty value. If the client is HTTP/1.1 aware then we
       will use chunked transfer encoding for the response.

   $c->send_redirect( $loc )
   $c->send_redirect( $loc, $code )
   $c->send_redirect( $loc, $code, $entity_body )
       Send a redirect response back to the client. The location ($loc) can
       be an absolute or relative URL. The $code must be one the redirect
       status codes, and defaults to "301 Moved Permanently"

   $c->send_error
   $c->send_error( $code )
   $c->send_error( $code, $error_message )
       Send an error response back to the client. If the $code is missing a
       "Bad Request" error is reported. The $error_message is a string that
       is incorporated in the body of the HTML entity body.

   $c->send_file_response( $filename )
       Send back a response with the specified $filename as content. If the
       file is a directory we try to generate an HTML index of it.

   $c->send_file( $filename )
   $c->send_file( $fd )
       Copy the file to the client. The file can be a string (which will be
       interpreted as a filename) or a reference to an `IO::Handle' or
       glob.

   $c->daemon
       Return a reference to the corresponding `HTTP::Daemon' object.

SEE ALSO
   RFC 2616

   IO::Socket::INET, IO::Socket

COPYRIGHT
   Copyright 1996-2003, Gisle Aas

   This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
   under the same terms as Perl itself.