[Web-SIG] Paste and Aspen (was Re: [ANN] Aspen 0.5 -- module reloading & directory handlers)

[Chad Whitacre]

Ian,

Now for some meat. First, thank you for your considered response!


 > Of course Paste is intended for production use!  But maybe you
 > mean paste.httpserver

Yes, that's what I meant, sorry. I understand Paste to be three 
things:

   1. a middleware library
   2. a little web server (Paste Script [paste.httpserver])
   3. a site configuration utility (Paste Deploy)

I love the middleware library! Unicorn power!

Re: the web server: It seems like you threw it together cause 
Apache is too cumbersome for development. It doesn't seem very 
close to the heart of Paste. Is that fair? As far as Aspen goes, 
the core HTTP server is straight outta CherryPy, so I'm not 
really doing anything new there myself. The CherryPy crew wrote a 
dern nice little web server, IMO. :-)


 > Paste Deploy tries to keep configuration fairly simple.

Paste Deploy is where I feel like I'm going to step on toes. 
Honestly, man, I just don't get it. It's not simple to me; it 
doesn't fit my brain.

We could dig into why, but I'm not sure that would be edifying. I 
think the better question is how Aspen might possibly play nice 
as a server for Paste apps. I'm hoping that digging through the 
usage scenarios you described will help me understand Paste more 
and start to answer that question.

Honestly, I'd like to see Aspen become common ground for Python 
web programmers that prefer pure-HTTP deployments, regardless of 
framework. I see cooperation with Paste as a priority in that 
regard, given the number of frameworks that inherit from Paste.


 > I personally deal with that at the Python level, with tools
 > like workingenv and virtual-python.  Anyone doing serious web
 > development should definitely be using tools like that, and not
 > installing stuff in their system Python.

Couldn't agree more. In the screencast I hinted that the magic 
directory is meant to be used in this way when I installed Django 
into it. The possibility of integrating workingenv, etc. into an 
Aspen workflow is on my radar, and I'd love to see that fleshed 
out more.


 > Right now I'm working in a different kind of development from
 > you (more one big website), but previously I was probably in a
 > very similar situation ...

Great info, thanks! It'll take me a while to digest this and 
think about how Aspen might relate. Please stand by ...





chad