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.\" ========================================================================
.\"
.IX Title "HELPER-MUX 8"
.TH HELPER-MUX 8 2024-04-09 "perl v5.38.2" "User Contributed Perl Documentation"
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.nh
.SH NAME
helper\-mux \- Concurrency protocol multiplexer for Squid helpers
.SH SYNOPSIS
.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
\&\fBhelper-mux\fR helper-path [helper\-options ...]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
\&\fBhelper-mux\fR purpose is to relieve some of the burden
\&\fBsquid\fR has when dealing with slow helpers. It does so by acting as a
middleman between \fBsquid\fR and the actual helpers, talking to \fBsquid\fR via
the multiplexed variant of the helper protocol and to the helpers
via the non-multiplexed variant.
.PP
Helpers are started on demand, and in theory the muxer can handle up to
1k helpers per instance. It is up to \fBsquid\fR to decide how many helpers
to start.
.PP
The helper can be controlled using various signals:
\&\- SIGHUP: dump the state of all helpers to STDERR
.SH OPTIONS
.IX Header "OPTIONS"
.IP \fBhelper-path\fR 8
.IX Item "helper-path"
Path to the helper being multiplexed.
.IP \fBhelper-options\fR 8
.IX Item "helper-options"
Command line options for the helper being multiplexed.
.SH "KNOWN ISSUES"
.IX Header "KNOWN ISSUES"
\&\fBhelper-mux\fR knows nothing about the actual messages being passed around,
and as such cannot yet compensate for broken helpers.
.PP
It is not yet able to manage dying helpers.
.SH COPYRIGHT
.IX Header "COPYRIGHT"
.Vb 5
\& * Copyright (C) 1996\-2023 The Squid Software Foundation and contributors
\& *
\& * Squid software is distributed under GPLv2+ license and includes
\& * contributions from numerous individuals and organizations.
\& * Please see the COPYING and CONTRIBUTORS files for details.
\&
\&   Copyright (C) Francesco Chemolli <kinkie@squid\-cache.org>
\&
\&   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
\&   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
\&   the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
\&   (at your option) any later version.
\&
\&   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
\&   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
\&   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
\&   GNU General Public License for more details.
\&
\&   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
\&   along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
\&   Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA.
.Ve