We've seen how to build mod_perl as a DSO inside the Apache source tree, but there is a nifty alternative: building mod_perl as a DSO outside the Apache source tree via the new Apache 1.3 support tool called APXS. The advantage is obvious: you can extend an already installed Apache with mod_perl even if you don't have the sources (for instance, you may have installed an Apache binary package from your vendor or favorite distribution).

Here are the build steps:

panic% tar xzvf mod_perl-1.xx.tar.gz
panic% cd mod_perl-1.xx
panic% perl Makefile.PL \
    USE_APXS=1 \
    WITH_APXS=/path/to/bin/apxs \
    EVERYTHING=1 \
    [...]
panic% make && make test
panic# make install

This will build the DSO libperl.so outside the Apache source tree and install it into the existing Apache hierarchy.