FastCGI

a protocol for running an Application Server (e.g. Python Web Framework) behind a Web Server like Apache.

aka FCGI

some Lion Kimbro http://lion.taoriver.net/?p=38 |documentation In AgileWebDevelopmentWithRails (Ruby On Rails), Dave Thomas noted issues between Apache v2 and FastCGI.

• Dec'2005: DHH notes Brian McCallister reports that the Apache team has decided to revive mod_fcgi as mod_proxy_fcgi with intentions of proper support for external FCGIs and a place in the core Apache distribution. This is fantastic news! Paul Querna and Garrett Rooney deserves much praise for embarking on this important quest to restore our faith in Apache as a worthy web server for applications.

• Jun'2006: James Duncan Davidson thinks FastCGI is just hopeless, and it's better to just go with a Proxy Server model, because its more Loosely Coupled. He compares it to ReST, as being more like a PipeLine.

• Jul'2006: DHH says As Mongrel continues to bubble to the top of the preferred production stack, we've started to evaluate web servers on their Proxy Server rather than their FCGI support. He then responds to a comment with proxying wasn't a viable alternative until we got a Ruby-based web server of Mongrel caliber. So using FCGI was a very natural alternative to follow. And it served us very well in terms of performance and stability. It "just" had complexity issues. Mongrel is giving us all the benefits (and more) with much less complexity.

• Aug'2006: DHH comments FCGI has not been deprecated for Ruby On Rails use. Nor will it be for the foreseeable future. If you're a shared hoster, it's still worth looking into personal Mongrels and a shared proxy setup, though.

• Sept'2006: Brian McCallister says So, off the bat, if you want to use FastCGI with Apache 2.X right now use mod_fcgid. It works great. In the (hopefully near) future mod_proxy_fcgi will be released as part of the main httpd distribution (I didn't write it, so it probably works!).

  • un-related interesting bits moved to [z2006-09-30-MccallisterWebScriptingPlatform]