[mod_python] Difference between filter.pass_on() and filter.disable()?

Thanks Graham,
The difference is very clear now.

Yes I agree that performance with mod_python is not optimal, but for now
it's a compromise because I'm using an existing product (
http://www.infrae.com/products/tramline -- I know there's been other
questions about this product on this list before). The question came up
because there's a couple of branches of it around and I wanted to understand
what was going on.

-- Jean

On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 2:13 AM, Graham Dumpleton <
graham.dumpleton at gmail.com> wrote:

> 2008/12/10 Jean Lagarde <jean.lagarde at gmail.com>:
> > Hi all,
> > The subject says it all. The documentation seems a little sparse on the
> > topic. The description of pass_on is:
> > Passes all data through the filter without any processing.
> >
> > The description of disable is:
> > Tells mod_python to ignore the provided handler and just pass the data
> on.
> > (which also states that mod_python uses that one internally).
> > "passes all data through" and "just pass the data on" sound like the same
> > thing to me. What is the additional functionality to "ignore the provided
> > handler"? I assume that there is a difference between the two methods and
> I
> > would like to know what it is no matter how subtle. I'm looking for the
> most
> > CPU efficient way to decide early on in the execution of a filter that we
> > don't want to filter a particular request in any way, but maybe
> > understanding the difference would help me to make a better use of
> > mod_python filters in other ways.
> > I did try to use both in code, and on one server with one version of
> Apache
> > 2 (and other components) it seemed to make no functional difference
> > (although I did not attempt to closely measure CPU usage), whereas on
> > another server with an earlier version of Apache 2 (and other
> components),
> > using disable() caused no error, but dropped values from POST forms
> passed
> > on to PHP scripts.
> > Thanks for any info. I did search the lists, but only found one comment
> on
> > someone's code from Graham that "Normally 'filter.pass_on()' would be
> used
> > here, not 'filter.disable()'", but without explaining why.
>
> If you use disable(), your filter will never be called for that
> request (input or output as appropriate) again.
>
> If you use pass_on(), then it is passing on data available to that
> specific call to your filter function.
>
> The distinction exists because your filter function can be called
> multiple times for a request. The latter is allowing you to pass on
> the data for that call, but still allowing you the option to process
> data in a subsequent call of the filter function.
>
> The disable() call is used internally to mod_python to ensure that
> filter function is never called again for a specific request if the
> filter function itself raises an exception of some sort. If it doesn't
> do this you could end up with a loop if the error in filter function
> actually generates output, for which it would then call the filter
> function again, etc etc.
>
> FWIW, if you are concerned about performance in any way, then you
> shouldn't be using mod_python to implement Apache input/output
> filters. Yes you can write filters with mod_python, but it will impact
> performance. For best performance you should write filters in C code
> as proper Apache module.
>
> Graham
>
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