CGI and long running job

[jmdeschamps at gmail.com]

merry.sailor at gmail.com wrote:
> Hello,
> I am using python and CGI to initiate a long running simulation (up to
> 5h long) on a remote machine. The main idea is that I use a form, enter
> the parameters and a CGI scripts start the simulation using these
> parameters. The structure of the script is:
>
> 1. Read paremeters
> 2. Display some information
> 3. Start the simulation
>
> For step 3 I use either os.system or os.popen(2). The problem is that
> the web server does not send the information of step 2 back to the
> browser, unless step 3 is completed. The browser simply waits for a
> response, without displaying anything. How can I just read the params,
> display the info I want, start the simulation and then terminate either
> the script or at least the connection to the browser without having to
> wait for the simulation to finish?
>
> I am using activestate python 2.4, Apache and WinXP.
>
> Thanks a lot for your help.

Maybe you could use 'os.spawn' variants with the P_NOWAIT parameter...
(not sure of the syntax here, it's in the doc)
Good luck!