How to run SimpleHTTPServer on IronPython on Mono

[Paul Boddie]

Sanghyeon Seo wrote:
> I took some time to write this HOWTO:
> http://sparcs.kaist.ac.kr/~tinuviel/fepy/howto/simplehttpserver-ironpython-mono-howto.html

Thanks for spending the time writing this. Whilst I don't run Mono or
anything similar, new Python documentation is surely a welcome thing.

> IronPython seems to get much less interest than it deserves.

[...]

> The purpose of this document is twofold: to show how to run
> SimpleHTTPServer on IronPython on Mono, and to debunk some myths like:
>
> * IronPython doesn't run on Mono

But it does require recent versions, according to the document.
Requiring the latest stuff straight from the revision control
repository is always an inhibiting factor in the adoption of software.

> * IronPython doesn't support Python standard library
> * IronPython is a toy

I don't think people really believe either of these any more. However,
the IronPython developers haven't really done a good job at explaining
the benefits of their work, or clearing up potential misconceptions.
For example, take a look at the previously-promoted Web site:

http://www.ironpython.com

It's out-of-date and doesn't mention the current Web site, which is a
mere section of some corporate "community" site for .NET: hardly a good
way of promoting something with (potential for) a fairly decent brand
identity.

Then, consider the licensing situation: whilst IronPython appears to
have a fairly permissive licence [1], Microsoft have decided to put it
under their "shared source" umbrella [2], confusing things
substantially, since that label used to mean that you could
conditionally look at Microsoft's code but do little else with it; even
now they promote three licences, one of which being similar but not
exactly the same as the "Shared Source License for IronPython". With
various existing open source licences, particularly the Free Software
licences, you know where you stand almost straight away. Meanwhile,
confusing, marketing-directed labelling only makes people less certain
about what they're getting into and what's being hidden from them.
However, one benefit of Microsoft's desire to simplify their licensing
is that the resulting compatibility with existing licences has had some
tentative recognition [3].

Finally, there's the issue of the platform. I imagine that many people
regard the debate as being over as to whether Mono and other similar
projects independent of Microsoft are genuinely open, now that various
Free Software-oriented GNU/Linux distributions are planning to
distribute Mono, but the Mono developers don't score any publicity
points for having belittled some fairly legitimate concerns about
things like patent claims related to the various "standards" involved.
For what it's worth, nagging concerns about the Java platform's
openness (especially related to the add-on standards like J2EE) still
linger in the open source community.

One other thing, not any fault of the IronPython developers themselves:
I guess it doesn't help that the canonical implementation of Python -
CPython - keeps growing new features which have already left Jython
struggling to catch up. If IronPython users consider themselves to be
part of the wider Python community, is it a good thing that they're
reliant on Microsoft to keep that community from fragmenting?

Paul

[1] http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2005/08/msg00089.html
[2]
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/sharedsource/licensingbasics/sharedsourcelicenses.mspx
[3] http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2005q4/000120.html