Vincent Delporte wrote: > On 6 Dec 2006 14:55:58 -0800, "Graham Dumpleton" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >Although WSGI is an extreme case because of the level it pitches at, > >other systems such as CherryPy and Django aren't much different as they > >effectively duplicate a lot of stuff that could be achieved using more > >basic functionality of Apache as well. > > Mmm... So how can I use those goodies from Apache? Just through their > configuration files, or do I have to somehow call them from Python? > > Is the fact that Python developers tend to ignore resources in Apach > due to difficulties in making calls from Python, making the scripts > unpythonic?
It depends on what you are doing. For example, if you need to do URL rewriting, you use the mod_rewrite module for Apache, not that it is the most pleasant thing to use. If you need to proxy through some subset of requests to a downstream web server, use mod_proxy. If you need to compress content going back to clients, use mod_deflate. If you need to do caching you use mod_cache. How to configure each of these from the Apache configuration files, you need to look at the Apache httpd documentation at httpd.apache.org. Some, like mod_proxy and mod_deflate can be triggered from within mod_python although finding the magic required isn't always straight forward. How you setup responses can also control mod_cache. If anything, the reason that Python developers tend to ignore a lot of what Apache has to offer is that it means understanding Apache. The Apache documentation isn't always the easiest thing to understand and for some things it even requires looking at the Apache source code to work out how to do things. The mod_python documentation at the moment doesn't help either, as it doesn't provide much in the way of recipes for doing things. The new mod_python wiki will hopefully address that over time, but right now the mod_python mailing lists are the best it gets. In terms of whether it is 'unpythonic', what should be more important is whether it gets the job done in a way that makes best use of what is available. If you want something to be 'pythonic', then using Apache as a framework probably isn't what you want, as as I said previously it becomes more about integrating things rather than writing pure Python code. Getting perhaps back to the answer you were seeking right back at the start, that is if you are new to web application and development and Python, then you may well be better of just using a higher level framework as they will make it easier and isolate you from any pains in understanding Apache and how to use it properly. Graham -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
