Python daemon instead of CGI programs

[Paul Boddie]

writeson at earthlink.net (Doug Farrell) wrote in message news:<88bc63c6.0203061444.30ad9c44 at posting.google.com>...
> Hi all,
> 
> I've got an idea that anyone is welcome to shoot holes in as it's only
> in the 'thought' process now. <g> I work for a company that develops
> big content web sites using CGI's built with C++ as the primary
> programming model. We also use Netscapes iPlanet as our web server.

I've lived through this kind of nightmare myself - C++ is bad enough
as a programming language for CGI-based applications (even with
reasonably high-level libraries), but to add the iPlanet Web server to
all that is particularly cruel.

[Description of a mod_python or mod_snake equivalent]

> We don't have to work out any of the complexities of
> connecting mod_python.so to iPlanet.

Well, there was once an implementation of an NSAPI module which surely
worked with Netscape's (now iPlanet's) server products, and even that
might be worth looking into. Personally, having been inconvenienced
enough in the past by the "features" of Netscape's Web server, and not
being entirely convinced that the product has moved on considerably
over the past few years, I'd seriously suggest saving yourself some
work and moving to Apache if at all possible.

> What do you think of this idea? Am I completely off base and missing
> some other obvious solution?

Here are some options:

  * The NSAPI module, if you can find it and it still works. (And
    you're desperate to stick with iPlanet server - that licence
    was probably expensive, unless it came free with Solaris...)

  * Apache with mod_python or mod_snake, or even mod_webkit (and
    Webware) or SkunkWeb.

  * iPlanet, Apache or something else, with a CGI adapter (or
    something more exotic - see the previous option) and one of
    the Python Web frameworks.

The last option is a bit more radical, since you would need to adopt a
different programming model. However, Webware's servlets and even
Zope's products are nicer to write than CGI programs.

Paul