Re: [WEB400] LR Indicator

["Nathan M. Andelin" <nandelin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: "Justin Houchin" <jhouchin9@charter.net>
> In a CGI program, why is it preferred to not set on LR
> indicator, just to use return?

Leaving a CGI program in an active state provides a dramatic performance
boost for simple applications that receive moderate use.

As you add more CGI programs, and more users, you eventually exhaust memory.
Since CGI programs are called directly from the HTTP server, program
exceptions may cause instability in the HTTP Server.  This problem seems to
be more acute when programs are left active for extended periods of time.

If your application consists of 100 CGI programs, and your site needs to
support 100 concurrent connections, that would eventually lead to 10,000
active instances (100 programs times the number of concurrent connections).
The only way to shut them down is to shut down the HTTP Server.

If you periodically need to back-up your database, and active programs hold
locks on files, you'll also need to shut down the HTTP Server.  If you're
running a high-use e-commerce site that demands close to 24 x 7
availability, then CGI is a poor architecture to use, in the first place.

Nathan M. Andelin
www.relational-data.com