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 library),
16 CGI, Jython/Java Servlet API, mod_python, Twisted and Webware are supported.
17 Each framework has its own set of strengths and weaknesses, but the idea is that
18 deployment concerns can be considered separately from the implementation of
19 application functionality. Consult the NOTES.txt files in each framework's
20 subdirectory of the docs directory for some notes on how applications may be run
21 in each environment.
22
23 Tested Frameworks
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 cookie support)
30 Twisted 1.0.5
31 Webware 0.8.1, CVS (2004-02-06)
32
33 New in WebStack 0.6 (Changes Since WebStack 0.5)
34 ------------------------------------------------
35
36 Introduced Jython/Java Servlet API support.
37 Minor fixes to example applications and to BaseHTTPRequestHandler.
38
39 New in WebStack 0.5 (Changes Since WebStack 0.4)
40 ------------------------------------------------
41
42 Changed request body fields/parameters so that they are now represented using
43 Unicode objects rather than plain strings.
44 Introduced better support for Unicode in response streams.
45
46 New in WebStack 0.4 (Changes Since WebStack 0.3)
47 ------------------------------------------------
48
49 Added application definition of user identity, permitting alternative
50 authentication mechanisms.
51 Improved BaseHTTPRequestHandler and mod_python reliability around fields from
52 request bodies.
53 Provided stream and environment parameterisation in the CGI adapter.
54 Added LoginRedirect and Login examples.
55 Added get_path_without_query and fixed get_path behaviour.
56
57 New in WebStack 0.3 (Changes Since WebStack 0.2)
58 ------------------------------------------------
59
60 Added better header support for Webware (suggested by Ian Bicking).
61 Introduced CGI and Java Servlet support (the latter is currently
62 broken/unfinished).
63 Introduced support for cookies.
64
65 Future Work
66 -----------
67
68 Things to consider for future releases: improved cookie support, redirects,
69 session interfaces, access to shared resources and much better documentation.
70
71 Field access needs testing, especially for anything using the cgi.FieldStorage
72 class - Webware and Twisted certainly need reviewing. The acquisition of
73 fields from specific sources should be made more strict - some frameworks (eg.
74 mod_python) provide path fields in the body fields dictionary.
75
76 Cookie objects need defining strictly, especially since the standard library
77 Cookie object behaves differently to mod_python (and possibly Webware) Cookie
78 objects. Moreover, the set_cookie_value method needs to provide access to the
79 usual cookie parameters as supported by the frameworks.
80
81 Release Procedures
82 ------------------
83
84 Update the WebStack/__init__.py __version__ attribute.
85 Update the release notes (see above).
86 Check the setup.py file and ensure that all package directories are mentioned.
87 Tag, export, archive, upload.
