Thanks to Tim, Gareth, and Phillippe: OK, I'll start with the solution to the problem and then drag on a bit for how I found it.
The problem was the location of a shared object file for the Apache Request object. A file called libapreq.so.1 was located in /usr/local/lib (should have been in /usr/lib), which was ok for the test script that Phillippe gave me and the one-liner that Gareth gave me, but was apparently NOT ok for Mason in the context of mod_perl. I didn't figure this out until I tried Tim's suggestion of preloading the Apache::Request module inside of httpd.conf. I ended up getting this thing: Syntax error on line 362 of /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf: Can't load '/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.0/i386-linux-thread-multi/auto/Apache/Request/Request.so' for module Apache::Request: libapreq.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory at /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.0/i386-linux-thread-multi/DynaLoader.pm line 229. at /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.0/i386-linux-thread-multi/mod_perl.pm line 14 Compilation failed in require at (eval 4) line 3. This isn't the most helpful error message in the world. However, I knew Request.so and libapreq.so.1 were installed, but I didn't know if they were in places that the server process expected them to be. So did a search for all the shared object files and noticed libapreq.so.1 file was sitting all by itself in /usr/local/lib, while about a billion other shared object files were inside of /usr/lib. I moved libapreq.so.1 to the place where all the other cool shared object files hung out, crossed my fingers, and booya! It worked. Apprently something about the way I configured the installation for libapreq was not very Mason friendly. Anyway, thanks again for the help. DeAngelo -----Original Message----- From: Tim Tompkins [mailto:timt@;arttoday.com] Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2002 10:16 AM To: DeAngelo Lampkin; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Can't locate object method "new" via package "Apache::Request" (via Mason)... You should pre-load Apache::Request anyway, PerlModule Apache::Request PerlModule HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler <FilesMatch "\.msn$"> SetHandler perl-script PerlHandler HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler </FilesMatch> Regards, Tim Tompkins ---------------------------------------------- Programmer http://www.clipart.com/ http://www.rebelartist.com/ ---------------------------------------------- ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tim Tompkins" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "DeAngelo Lampkin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2002 11:08 AM Subject: Re: Can't locate object method "new" via package "Apache::Request" (via Mason)... > Is Apache::Request installed for perl 5.8.0? Sounds like it's not loaded, > anyway. > > > Regards, > > Tim Tompkins > ---------------------------------------------- > Programmer > http://www.clipart.com/ > http://www.rebelartist.com/ > ---------------------------------------------- > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "DeAngelo Lampkin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2002 10:54 AM > Subject: RE: Can't locate object method "new" via package "Apache::Request" > (via Mason)... > > > Hi Gareth, > > I'm using the latest version of Mason, Mason 1.15. As I posted in my > previous email, I put the following lines into my httpd.conf file per the > instructions on Mason's website: > > PerlModule HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler > <FilesMatch "\.msn$"> > SetHandler perl-script > PerlHandler HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler > </FilesMatch> > > The reason this wasn't posted on a Mason mailing list is that this didn't > seem like a Mason problem per se and the Mason mailing list page > specifically mentioned the Apache Request object (at least in part the > source of my problem)as being something that is not directly Mason > related( http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/mason-users ). So I > took the advice of the list moderator and posted on the mod_perl list > instead. > > Thanks! > > DeAngelo > > -----Original Message----- > From: Gareth Kirwan [mailto:gbjk@;thermeoneurope.com] > Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2002 1:44 AM > To: DeAngelo Lampkin; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: Can't locate object method "new" via package > "Apache::Request" (via Mason)... > > > You need to set Mason up better - probably. > > I'm an avid Mason user, and I've seen this a fair few times. > If you want help, you're most likely to get it on the > [EMAIL PROTECTED] list. > However if you want to tell me the version of mason you're using it might > help. > > You could use a mason-handler.pl with Mason 1.12 ( or 1.15) and the new > Lexer / Compiller components. > > There should be a require statement in your httpd.conf. > This gives you better control over data structures, variable scopes, and an > opportunity to handle persistent database connections better in the handler. > > Check out the information on http://www.masonhq.com > > Hope this helps. > > Gareth > > -----Original Message----- > From: DeAngelo Lampkin [mailto:dlampkin@;xencor.com] > Sent: 06 November 2002 23:25 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Can't locate object method "new" via package "Apache::Request" > (via Mason)... > > > Hey guys, > > You may remember me from such messages as "I can't get mod_perl to compile > on Irix64 systems!". Well now I've got a whole new problem that I need your > expertise on. > > I'm running Apache 1.3x and mod_perl 1.2x on a Linux system. However, > whenever I go to a page that should be handled by Mason (a perl templating > system), I get the following error message: > -------------------------------------------------------- > "[Wed Nov 6 11:56:20 2002] [error] Can't locate object method "new" via > package "Apache::Request" at > /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.0/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 878." > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > > My guess is that this (at some level)involves a configuration error of some > kind. I added the following lines to my httpd.conf file per the > instructions on Mason's website: > > --------------------------------------------------------------- > PerlModule HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler > <FilesMatch "\.msn$"> > SetHandler perl-script > PerlHandler HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler > </FilesMatch> > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > So I'm not sure what's going on here. I looked through Apache/Request.pm > and found no "new" method and I didn't find one inside of Apache.pm either > (from which the Request module inherets). However, I'm assuming this is all > correct and some magical ultra-Perl-guru AUTOLOAD-like functionality is > going on somewhere. > > > Does anyone have any ideas about what may be causing this? > > > Thanks, > DeAngelo > > >