1 Webware's CGI adapter:
2
3 Copy the Webware/WebKit/Adapters/WebKit.cgi file to your CGI directory (eg.
4 /home/httpd/cgi-bin), then add a line like this to httpd.conf:
5
6 ScriptAlias /webkit "/home/httpd/cgi-bin/WebKit.cgi"
7
8 --------
9
10 Authentication/authorisation in Webware:
11
12 Since Webware provides some kind of CGI emulation environment, the actual HTTP
13 headers involved with authentication/authorisation are not available to the
14 WebStack transaction. Therefore, WebStack depends on Webware having access to
15 the REMOTE_USER environment variable set by the Web server, and with Apache,
16 this variable is only ever set when Apache itself has performed
17 authentication. Whilst applications can send the "WWW-Authenticate" header to
18 HTTP clients, unless Apache has been instructed to process the resulting
19 username/password information, the REMOTE_USER will apparently remain
20 undefined.
21
22 Consequently, it is recommended that the following kind of definition is added
23 to httpd.conf (for Apache) in order to give applications access to
24 username/password details:
25
26 <Location "/webkit/auth">
27 AuthType Basic
28 AuthName "AuthResource"
29 AuthUserFile /usr/local/apache2/conf/users
30 require valid-user
31 </Location>
32
33 The details of the application's deployment, including the exact pathname of
34 the users file and the appropriate access policy, must obviously be defined
35 according to the actual application concerned.
36
37 Note that the above example will only apply authentication to either a
38 specific context (for Webware releases beyond 0.8.1) and only to a specific
39 "region" of possible URLs (for Webware 0.8.1 and earlier).
40
41 --------
42
43 For Webware releases beyond 0.8.1:
44
45 WebStack applications are supported as contexts within WebKit, meaning that a
46 certain prefix in the URL determines whether an application is sent a
47 particular request.
48
49 Each context must be defined in the Webware/WebKit/Configs/Application.config
50 file within the 'Contexts' dictionary entry; for example:
51
52 'simple': '/home/paulb/Software/Python/WebStack/examples/Webware/SimpleContext',
53
54 Note that the path to the context directory must be absolute, although the
55 context directory may reside within WebKit itself such that the path may then
56 make use of the special %(WebKitPath)s substitution.
57
58 Note also that the name of the context (eg. 'simple') must not be the same as
59 the name of any other package used within the application (and possibly any
60 other applications in the application server), with the only reasonable
61 exception being the context package name itself (eg. 'SimpleContext').
62 Otherwise, the existing package will become overridden by the contents of the
63 context itself. Therefore, given that the Simple package is used to hold the
64 actual application code, it is not wise to use 'Simple' as the context name.
65
66 Running the application server:
67
68 Change into the WebKit directory within Webware. Then, specifying the
69 appropriate PYTHONPATH, invoke the application server. For example:
70
71 PYTHONPATH=../../../WebStack:../../../WebStack/examples/Common ./AppServer
72
73 The WebStack package must reside on the PYTHONPATH, along with the package
74 containing the application itself.
75
76 --------
77
78 For Webware 0.8.1 or earlier:
79
80 Support for WebStack applications is provided by a Webware plug-in which
81 associates Webware resources having certain suffixes with certain WebStack
82 applications, regardless of the context within which a resource appears. In
83 order to make use of such a scheme, a WebStack application would have its
84 resources residing in an arbitrary URL "hierarchy", but with each resource
85 having the special suffix to indicate that it belongs to that application.
86
87 In the case of an application whose chosen suffix is ".xyz", it would be
88 possible, for example, to define resources residing at the following URL
89 paths:
90
91 tasks/my-tasks.xyz
92 tasks/outstanding/urgent.xyz
93 agenda/today.xyz
94
95 This is somewhat counter-intuitive to typical Webware concepts, and it is
96 recommended that Webware releases beyond 0.8.1 are used together with the
97 appropriate WebStack context mechanisms instead of using this plug-in scheme.
98
99 In order to support such behaviour, the patches in the
100 WebStack/patches/Webware/WebKit directory must be applied to WebKit:
101
102 cd Webware/WebKit
103 patch -p0 < ../../WebStack/patches/Webware/WebKit/Application.py-0.8.1.diff
104 patch -p0 < ../../WebStack/patches/Webware/WebKit/HTTPRequest.py-0.8.1.diff
105
106 Each plug-in, representing a WebStack application, should be visible in the
107 Webware root directory. A symbolic link can be used to make each example
108 appear; the Simple application being installed as follows:
109
110 cd Webware
111 ln -s ../WebStack/examples/Webware/SimpleApp
112
113 Configuring the application server:
114
115 Ensure that the ExtraPathInfo parameter in WebKit/Configs/Application.config
116 is set to 0.
117
118 Running the application server:
119
120 Change into the WebKit directory within Webware. Then, specifying the
121 appropriate PYTHONPATH, invoke the application server. For example:
122
123 PYTHONPATH=../../WebStack:../../WebStack/examples/Common ./AppServer
124
125 The WebStack package must reside on the PYTHONPATH, along with the package
126 containing the application itself.
