NAME

       HTTP::Proxy::Engine - Generic child process manager engine for HTTP::Proxy

SYNOPSIS

           use HTTP::Proxy;

           # use the default engine for your system
           my $proxy = HTTP::Proxy->new();

           # choose one
           my $proxy = HTTP::Proxy->new( engine => 'Old' );

DESCRIPTION

       The HTTP::Proxy::Engine class is a front-end to actual proxy engine classes.

       The role of an engine is to implement the main fork+serve loop with all the required
       bookkeeping. This is also a good way to test various implementation and/or try out new
       algorithms without too much difficulties.

METHODS

       new()
           Create a new engine. The parameter "engine" is used to decide which kind of engine
           will be created. Other parameters are passed to the underlying engine.

           This method also implement the subclasses constructor (they obviously do not need the
           "engine" parameter).

CREATING YOUR OWN ENGINE

       It is possible to create one's own engine, by creating a simple subclass of
       HTTP::Proxy::Engine with the following methods:

       start()
           This method should handle any initialisation required when the engine starts.

       run()
           This method is the main loop of the master process.  It defines how child processes
           are forked, checked and killed.

           The engine MUST have a run() method, and it will be called again and again until the
           proxy exits.

           "$self->proxy->daemon" returns the listening socket that can "accept()" connections.
           The child must call "$self->proxy->serve_connections()" on the returned socket to
           handle actual TCP connections.

       stop()
           This optional method should handle any cleanup procedures when the engine stops
           (typically when the main proxy process is killed).

       A subclass may also define a %defaults hash (with "our") that contains the default values
       for the fields used internaly.

METHODS PROVIDED TO SUBCLASSES

       HTTP::Proxy::Engine provides the following methods to its subclasses:

       proxy()
           Return the HTTP::Proxy object that runs the engine.

       max_clients()
           Get or set the maximum number of TCP clients, that is to say the maximum number of
           forked child process.

           Some engines may understand a value of 0 as do not fork at all.  This is what
           HTTP::Proxy::Engine::Legacy does.

       make_accessors( @names )
           Create accessors named after @names in the subclass package.  All accessors are
           read/write. This is a utility method.

           This is a class method.

AUTHOR

       Philippe "BooK" Bruhat, "<book@cpan.org>".

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright 2005-2013, Philippe Bruhat.

LICENSE

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