lets you modify a Cgi Script before it gets executed.

It's like a proxy, kinda.

The neat thing is it works cross-platform over http and is relatively lightweight. It is also an HTTP protocol so is cachable. Langauages have mostly done the same.

CgiProxy

Sends CGI environment to a server, then updates those variables with the response.

Example CGI PARAMS: http://ken.coar.org/cgi/draft-coar-cgi-v11-03.txt

 AUTH_TYPE CONTENT_LENGTH CONTENT_TYPE GATEWAY_INTERFACE
 PATH_INFO PATH_TRANSLATED QUERY_STRING REMOTE_ADDR REMOTE_HOST
 AUTH_TYPE CONTENT_LENGTH CONTENT_TYPE GATEWAY_INTERFACE
 PATH_INFO PATH_TRANSLATED QUERY_STRING REMOTE_ADDR REMOTE_HOST
 REMOTE_IDENT REMOTE_USER REQUEST_METHOD SCRIPT_NAME SERVER_NAME
 SERVER_PORT SERVER_PROTOCOL SERVER_SOFTWARE

And anything that is of the format:

 HTTP_* 
 where * corresponse to an http header name

For example, Content-Length becomes HTTP_CONTENT_LENGTH

this is the format followed by:

• python's wsgi http://ken.coar.org/cgi/draft-coar-cgi-v11-03.txt

• ruby's rack http://rack.rubyforge.org/doc/files/SPEC.html

• php's $_SERVER http://php.net/manual/en/reserved.variables.server.php

• and the spec: http://ken.coar.org/cgi/draft-coar-cgi-v11-03.txt

Usage

require 'rack/cgi-proxy'

# Cloud CGI Proxy as a Service (CPaaS)
ENV['CLOUD_PROXY_URL'] ||= 'http://localhost:4567/user1'
use Rack::CgiProxy, ENV['CLOUD_PROXY_URL']

Your Cloud Proxy modifies the Request at the "CGI" level.
I'm not totally sure if this is a good idea, but you can 
definitely have fun / do some damage with it...

Testing

totally went poor man's testing on this

fire up your RequestInspector with rack via:

$ bundle exec rackup
start rack on port 9292

fire up your Cloud CGI Proxy

$ bundle exec ruby proxy.rb
start sinatra on port 4567

test it out

$ ./test.sh
...
GET /?*post=query* => POST request, query string as post body
GET http://localhost:9292?post=query&foo=bar&jay=zee
Hello, POST: {"post"=>"query", "foo"=>"bar", "jay"=>"zee", "splat"=>["/"], "captures"=>["/"]} 
....