How can I access the Apache server configuration in a BEGIN block in mod_perl?

Question

I've been trying to switch from using PerlSetEnv to using custom configuration directives. I have my configuration module with a copy of set_val from the docs:

sub set_val
{
    local our ($key, $self, $parms, $arg) = @_;
    $self->{$key} = $arg;
    unless ($parms->path)
    {
        local our $srv_cfg = Apache2::Module::get_config($self, $parms->server);
        $srv_cfg->{$key} = $arg;
    }
}

...which is called by every custom directive sub. Then I have in my .conf:

PerlLoadModule MyModule::ServerConfig
MyCustomDirective 'hello'

This works fine in that httpd -t okays the file's syntax. The problem is that I can't seem to get at the value from the config file from within a BEGIN block, which I need to do.

I've tried tinkering with all sorts of things:

BEGIN
{
    use Apache2::CmdParms ();
#   use Apache2::Directive ();
    use Apache2::Module ();
#   use Apache2::ServerUtil ();
#   use Apache2::RequestUtil ();

    use Data::Dump;
    warn ddx(Apache2::Module::get_config('MyModule::ServerConfig', Apache2::CmdParms->server));
#   warn ddx(Apache2::Directive->as_hash);
#   warn Apache2::ServerUtil->dir_config('MyCustomDirective);
#   warn Apache2::CmdParms->server->server_hostname();
}

...but to no avail. Most of my efforts (trying to access CmdParms->server for instance) result in Parent: child process exited with status 3221225477 -- Restarting and an automatic restart of Apache as it says. If I pass ServerUtil->server to get_config(), the server stays alive but the warning only prints out '1'.

I read somewhere that this is because you can't get at anything request-related within a BEGIN block, because requests vary. It kind of makes sense, except that with PerlOptions +GlobalRequest I have been able to see $ENV within a BEGIN block, so why wouldn't I be able to see my own directives, just as dependent as they are on how the request happens? Especially confusing is that if I try to pass Apache2::RequestUtil->request->per\_dir\_config() to get_config(), it says Global $r object is not available. If that's true in a BEGIN block, how is it I can get at $ENV?

Answer 1

Partly, Dump isn't being used correctly. This works better:

use Data::Dump qw(pp);
warn pp(Apache2::Module::get_config('MyModule::ServerConfig', Apache2::ServerUtil->server));

However, it doesn't show any directives that appear within <Directory> blocks.

In my particular case, though, I don't need that functionality, on second thought; that just happens to be where I had stuck them.