Why cgi_error() is not available with 'use CGI::Fast;'?

[ache]

Hi.
Perl 5.18 can't find cgi_error() when just 'use CGI::Fast;' line used alone. This function is from main CGI.pm module which CGI:Fast uses so I don't understand why it is unavailable. It works for ages with the single line above with old versions of CGI::Fast and CGI.pm installed. Is new way suppose to include both 'use CGI;' and 'use CGI::Fast;' in the same time?

[leejo]

Can you give me more information on the versions of CGI and CGI::Fast were this was/is working? Trying with older version shows this not working, and it may well be down to "Use of inherited AUTOLOAD for non-method" (which has been deprecated for a long time):

/Volumes/code_partition/CGI.pm > perl -V | head -n1
Summary of my perl5 (revision 5 version 18 subversion 1) configuration:

/Volumes/code_partition/CGI.pm > perl -Ilib -MCGI::Fast -E'say $CGI::VERSION; say $CGI::Fast::VERSION; say CGI::Fast::cgi_error("foo")';
defined(@array) is deprecated at lib/CGI.pm line 528.
        (Maybe you should just omit the defined()?)
3.51
1.08
Use of inherited AUTOLOAD for non-method CGI::Fast::cgi_error() is deprecated at -e line 1.
Undefined subroutine CGI::Fast::cgi_error
 at -e line 1.

/Volumes/code_partition/CGI.pm > perl -Ilib -MCGI::Fast -E'say $CGI::VERSION; say $CGI::Fast::VERSION; say cgi_error("foo")';
defined(@array) is deprecated at lib/CGI.pm line 528.
        (Maybe you should just omit the defined()?)
3.51
1.08
Undefined subroutine &main::cgi_error called at -e line 1.

[ache]

It works with old CGI.pm 3.63 which installs its own CGI/Fast.pm along with other submodules f.e. CGI/Carp.pm etc.
Now I upgrade to CGI.pm 4.13 + separate CGI::Fast 2.07 and feel a bit disoriented, which way is proper now to bring cgi_error() to life.

[ache]

BTW, I don't call it like this CGI::Fast::cgi_error("foo") (it have no arguments).
I use sample from CGI.pm manpage:

my $error = cgi_error();

[leejo]

Can you show me the all the code you are using? I cannot get this behaviour with CGI v3.63:

/Volumes/code_partition/CGI.pm > perl -Ilib -MCGI::Fast -E'say $CGI::VERSION; say $CGI::Fast::VERSION; say cgi_error()';
3.63
1.09
Undefined subroutine &main::cgi_error called at -e line 1.

[ache]

Initially it was big script, so I try to cut it down but maybe not to absolute minimum.
I just restore old CGI.pm 3.63 and check it works without 'Undefined subroutine &main::cgi_error'

#!/usr/local/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use POSIX qw(_exit);
use CGI::Fast qw/ :standard -no_xhtml -nosticky /;
$CGI::POST_MAX = 0;
$CGI::DISABLE_UPLOADS = 1;

my $exit_requested = 0;
my $exitcode = 0;
my $handling_request = 0;

sub sig_handler {
    _exit(0) if !$handling_request;
    _exit(1) if $exit_requested;
    $exit_requested = 1;
}
$SIG{TERM} = \&sig_handler;

$SIG{PIPE} = 'IGNORE';
sub pipe_handler {die "SIGPIPE\n";}

sub abort_request() {
    if (!$exit_requested) {
    $exit_requested = 1;
    }
    $exitcode = 1;
    warn("[$$] fatal error, request aborted, shutting down: $@\n");
}

sub outit($) {
    my $err = shift;

    print header(-status=>200, -type=>"text/plain"),
      $err, "\n";
}

sub do_request() {
    local $SIG{PIPE} = \&pipe_handler;

    my $error = cgi_error();
    if ($error) {
    outit("CGI error $error");
    return;
    }
    outit("Ok");
}

while ($handling_request = !!(new CGI::Fast)) {
    abort_request() if (!eval {do_request(); 1;} && $@ ne "SIGPIPE\n");
    $handling_request = 0;
    last if $exit_requested;
}

exit $exitcode; 

[leejo]

OK, this is the offending line:

use CGI::Fast qw/ :standard -no_xhtml -nosticky /;

You need to import those using CGI not CGI::Fast, so change it to the following:

use CGI qw/ :standard -no_xhtml -nosticky /;
use CGI::Fast

And that works:

/Volumes/code_partition/CGI.pm > perl -Ilib -I../cgi-fast/lib -E'use CGI::Fast; use CGI qw/ :standard -no_xhtml -nosticky /; say $CGI::VERSION; say $CGI::Fast::VERSION; say cgi_error("foo")';
4.13_02
2.04
foo

The fact that you could get at CGI's imports via CGI::Fast is an accident and probably not by design, and even though the old CGI::Fast SYNOPSIS has use CGI::Fast qw/ :standard / i'd also suggest this was an accident.

[ache]

Thanx for explanation.
v3.63 CGI::Fast SYNOPSIS have 'use CGI::Fast qw(:standard);' making false impression that CGI::Fast is just drop-in replacement of CGI.