UBB.Developers Forums UBB.classic V6 MultiHack Mods [6.1x] UBB File Compression PB 2

What :: UBB Compression with cgi_buffer.pm

Version :: 6.1.0 PB 2

Info :: As promised in the recent U-zine article. Now you can dramatically reduce bandwidth and download times with an easy to use perl module.

Demo :: https://www.ubbdev.com/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi

Credits :: WiLD for pointing it out to us

Files :: https://www.ubbdev.com/hacks/6.1/Compress.zip

How To ::


Open ultimatebb.cgi, uncomment use strict; and use vars etc etc (lines #30 and #35) and add this:

require Modules::Compress::cgi_buffer;
import Compress::cgi_buffer
$cgi_buffer::generate_etag = 0;

immediately before your use strict; so that it looks like this:

require Modules::Compress::cgi_buffer;
import Compress::cgi_buffer
$cgi_buffer::generate_etag = 0;
use strict;
use Fcntl ':flock';
use UBBCGI qw(:cgi);
use UBBCGI::Carp qw(fatalsToBrowser set_message);

use vars qw(%etc etc


That should be all you need to do, tho you may want to clear cache...

[ 09-16-2001: Message edited by: AllenAyres ]

Runs so much faster over here.

Warning it requires Compress::Zlib which is not installed by default on most Perl-capable hosts.

q

As stated in the article

All recent versions of activestate perl come with it... and if you are able to install this perl module on your server, you should be able to install the other required modules from cpan

Sounds like one good mod. I'll give it a try soon.

is this better than mod_gzip?

I believe they both use Compress::Zlib - performance should be comparable. I have never checked out mod_gzip because it's written for apache and I've never used an apache server.

WiLD is doing some performance testing and said he would report back his results.

ISAPI compression on a windows server is supposed to perform better than both, but takes a little more work to set up for dynamic files. We're using it for the static files here.

Allen, where can i find httpcomp.dll??

this link http://www.microsoft.com/TechNet/iis/httpcomp.asp gives me an 404 not found error
TIA

Theoretically, it'll be the same but mod_gzip allows more tweaking (in terms of compression); this module does not (if it uses Compress::Zlib's default gzip mechanism, compression is set at 4 iirc; 1 would be best for speed purposes and CPU load).

Anyways, if you already have mod_gzip on your server and it's compressing CGI output, don't bother to install this hack; it'll just waste CPU clicks.

q

[ September 07, 2001: Message edited by: qasic ]

Here's some more info:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q255/9/51.ASP

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...chnol/iis/maintain/optimize/perflink.asp

Yes, if you've already installed some other form of compression, this would be redundant. It'd be like installing who's online twice

wow Allen this is awesome
w/o cgi_buffer.pm one thread with 2 replies generates ~17KB
with cgi_buffer.pm this same thread generates only ~3KB

thank you very much for this one Allen
rated

I really want to use this but each time i download cgi_buffer-0.3.tgz , it opens in winzip saying corrupt error.

Am i looking at the right download here?

I had the same problem... the download is trying to save it as a .tar file... be sure and save it as a .tgz file when you save it in the download. Winzip will then open it properly into a tar file and then unpack it after you've saved it to your computer.

Just a reminder this is for servers tht you are able to install perl modules on, either a dedicated server or a shared one a host doesn't mind installing perl modules for you.

Actually, just rename the file so it ends in .tar.gz and you'll have no problems.

qasic

n/m problem fixed. Dang! Pretty fast!

[ September 07, 2001: Message edited by: raiyan ]

Where can I get THIS file?

That's one of the modules mentioned that's required for using this. If you are using activestate perl, it's included. If not, I believe you can get all the modules from cpan.org

I'm using ActiveState Perl and it's not included here

I got some versions from there, but they aren't IO::String (like Convertor::Ethiopian::String, Brute::String)

Maybe it's only the most recent version... I am using 629. Did you also install the perl package manager (PPM)?

Some links:

http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Reference/Products/ASPNTOC-ACTIVEPERL-004

http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Reference/Products/ActivePerl/lib/IO.html

hmmm... maybe I have it loaded from something else... if you see where the difference is, can you report back here? You might need to get the module from cpan after all

hey LK
grab it here
http://www.cpan.org/modules/by-module/IO/IO-String-1.01.tar.gz

PS ont forget to save it as .tgz

Nevermind, fixed it, thanks hmiguelito

Allen, I just found the source to the JavaScript problems: this hack

[ September 08, 2001: Message edited by: LK ]

gzipped Javascript and CSS cause some browsers to behave poorly. Known issue... smash the vendors upside the head.

hmmmm... it seems to be compressing all the pages except the forum summary, as they are all 5-10kb except the forum summary which is ~68kb.

yes me too
all except ultimatebb.cgi

Here's an idea for anyone who wants to try it and doesn't have root access to the server to install it.

You can create a directory in your 'Modules' directory called (lets just say) 'CGIBuffer' then copy the cgi_buffer.pm into that directory.

You can then use this code to use the cgi_buffer module:

I have not tested if it is actually compressing yet but there does seem to be an increase in speed when that code is used.

Let me know if it does not work and I will remove my post.

Thanks,
GewGaw

[ September 08, 2001: Message edited by: GewGaw ]

That is very correct qasic! I tested the situation on two separate virtual hosting accounts with two separate ISPs and it functioned fine. This would conclude that the two ISPs were running the required modules.

Thanks for pointing it out... something I overlooked to mention.


GewGaw

so Allen
why isnt forum front page being zipped?

Could this also work on UBB 6.05? Cause I hate upgrading especially after applying like 40 hacks..

And upgrading to UBB 6.1 is a too big leap for me.

Grtz.,
Michael

In theory, it should work as long as you have the required modules installed.

Thanks for the answer..

So it would save bandwith? Even on a 6.05 board (ofcourse) with the right modules installed?

Yup.

testing it on my 6.05 tonight wish me luck

[ September 09, 2001: Message edited by: Anime-loo ]

It should work on the 6.0x series, the problem might come in the coding of that series.. 6.1x code has been cleaned up tremendously and uncommenting the use strict; is no biggie.

That would be my only concern.

thanks for the input ^_^, we just decided to wait till next weekend to try it on the main forums tho were ganna put it on are test forums tonight and see how it works out

hi have added this cant tell if it has worked would i get an error if it dont work ???
i dont have access to perl, im using a test board with a free host (F2S) because im shopping around for hosting

You should get an error if the required modules aren't installed. Right click on one of your thread pages with a few replies and see if it is ridiculously small in the 5-10kb range

yeah got in touch with f2s to see if they support it and they do

wow its so zippy does it save bandwidth aswell

GREAT JOB GUYS

Wow , never thougt my hints would make it into THE UBBDEV-Zone Hope that this helps many Board-Admins and Users as well. At least, I love this hack

@all: As somebody said, all pages are compressed, except the forum-overview. I dont have any Idea why this happens. Did someone find out why this might happen?

Willi

Haven't found out yet.. but it makes a huge difference elsewhere Thanks for the pointers as well. I wrote to the author to see if he might still be developing this further, haven't heard anything yet.

The next version of this will be developed to where it can be used on most any server - shared or dedicated... warnings will be issued tho regarding using this on a shared server and cpu usage.