1 Introduction
2 ------------
3
4 WebStack is a package which provides a common API for Python Web applications,
5 regardless of the underlying server or framework environment. It should be
6 possible with WebStack to design and implement an application and to choose a
7 deployment environment, without having to go back and rewrite large parts of
8 that application to work in the chosen environment or in other environments
9 (should the deployment requirements change after the application has been
10 written).
11
12 Framework Support
13 -----------------
14
15 Currently, BaseHTTPRequestHandler (via BaseHTTPServer in the standard
16 library), CGI, Jython/Java Servlet API, mod_python, Twisted, Webware and Zope
17 2 are supported. Each framework has its own set of strengths and weaknesses,
18 but the idea is that deployment concerns can be considered separately from the
19 implementation of application functionality. Consult the NOTES.txt files in
20 each framework's subdirectory of the docs directory for some notes on how
21 applications may be run in each environment.
22
23 Tested Frameworks Release Information
24 ----------------- -------------------
25
26 BaseHTTPRequestHandler Python 2.2.2, Python 2.3.3
27 CGI Apache 2.0.44
28 Jython/Java Servlet API Jython 2.1, Java JDK 1.3.1_02, Tomcat 4.1.27 (Servlet 2.3)
29 mod_python 3.0.3 (3.1.3 for framework cookie and session support)
30 Twisted 1.0.5
31 Webware 0.8.1, CVS (2004-02-06)
32 Zope 2.7.2-0
33
34 New in WebStack 0.7 (Changes Since WebStack 0.6)
35 ------------------------------------------------
36
37 Fixed path information semantics.
38 Fixed file upload semantics.
39 Fixed content type handling for Unicode output and for interpreting request
40 body fields/parameters (although some improvement remains).
41 Fixed field/parameter retrieval so that path and body fields are distinct,
42 regardless of the framework employed.
43 Introduced Zope 2 support.
44 Improved Jython/Java Servlet API support (although a special PyServlet class
45 must now be used, and certain libraries must be deployed with applications).
46 Session support has been added.
47 Alternative cookie support for mod_python has been added.
48
49 New in WebStack 0.6 (Changes Since WebStack 0.5)
50 ------------------------------------------------
51
52 Introduced Jython/Java Servlet API support.
53 Minor fixes to example applications and to BaseHTTPRequestHandler.
54
55 New in WebStack 0.5 (Changes Since WebStack 0.4)
56 ------------------------------------------------
57
58 Changed request body fields/parameters so that they are now represented using
59 Unicode objects rather than plain strings.
60 Introduced better support for Unicode in response streams.
61
62 New in WebStack 0.4 (Changes Since WebStack 0.3)
63 ------------------------------------------------
64
65 Added application definition of user identity, permitting alternative
66 authentication mechanisms.
67 Improved BaseHTTPRequestHandler and mod_python reliability around fields from
68 request bodies.
69 Provided stream and environment parameterisation in the CGI adapter.
70 Added LoginRedirect and Login examples.
71 Added get_path_without_query and fixed get_path behaviour.
72
73 New in WebStack 0.3 (Changes Since WebStack 0.2)
74 ------------------------------------------------
75
76 Added better header support for Webware (suggested by Ian Bicking).
77 Introduced CGI and Java Servlet support (the latter is currently
78 broken/unfinished).
79 Introduced support for cookies.
80
81 Future Work
82 -----------
83
84 Things to consider for future releases: improved cookie support, redirects,
85 access to shared resources and much better documentation.
86
87 Field access needs testing, especially for anything using the cgi.FieldStorage
88 class, and the way file uploads are exposed should be reviewed (currently the
89 meta-data is not exposed). The acquisition of fields from specific sources
90 should be made more strict - some frameworks (eg. mod_python) provide path
91 fields in the body fields dictionary.
92
93 Cookie objects need defining strictly, especially since the standard library
94 Cookie object behaves differently to mod_python (and possibly Webware) Cookie
95 objects. Moreover, the set_cookie_value method needs to provide access to the
96 usual cookie parameters as supported by the frameworks.
97
98 UTF-16 (and possibly other encodings) causes problems with HTML form data sent
99 in POST requests using the application/x-www-form-urlencoded content type.
100 This should be reviewed at a later date when proper standardisation has taken
101 place.
102
103 Session support, especially through WebStack.Helpers.Session, should be
104 reviewed.
105
106 Release Procedures
107 ------------------
108
109 Update the WebStack/__init__.py __version__ attribute.
110 Update the release notes (see above).
111 Check the setup.py file and ensure that all package directories are mentioned.
112 Generate the PyServlet classes.
113 Tag, export, archive, upload.