Python framework questions

[mp]

Hello, I have a couple general questions.

First, how do most web frameworks serve html? I'm coding in python and
I want to keep all my html seperate from my python stuff. I can serve
these html files from a mysql database or just from the file system, do
people use both these options? Are there other options?

Second, is a cgi-bin directory really necessary? Are there security
issues with configuring Apache to allow cgi-bin execution in other
directories?

Thanks
MP

[Anand]

mp wrote:

Hello, I have a couple general questions.

First, how do most web frameworks serve html? I'm coding in python and
I want to keep all my html seperate from my python stuff. I can serve
these html files from a mysql database or just from the file system, do
people use both these options? Are there other options?

most web frameworks generate html from some kind of templates.
templates for very much like html but you can substitute some text
dynamically at runtime. you may also be able to do conditionals and
loops inside templates.

if you want to get a feel of it, try web.py (http://webpy.org). web.py
is a very simple and powerful web framework.

Second, is a cgi-bin directory really necessary? Are there security
issues with configuring Apache to allow cgi-bin execution in other
directories?

i am not an apache expert.

but to the best of my knowledge, there should not be any problems. it
will be slower because for handling each request a new process has to
be created.

Anand

[johnzenger]

mp wrote:

Hello, I have a couple general questions.

First, how do most web frameworks serve html? I'm coding in python and
I want to keep all my html seperate from my python stuff. I can serve
these html files from a mysql database or just from the file system, do
people use both these options? Are there other options?

The basic idea of templates is that you write something like:

<h1>{{ HEADLINE }}</h1>
<p>by {{ AUTHOR }}</p>
<p>{{ STORY }}</p>

and the web framework fills in the blanks. No need to store templates
in a SQL database; they are just files.

>
Second, is a cgi-bin directory really necessary? Are there security
issues with configuring Apache to allow cgi-bin execution in other
directories?

Not only unnecessary but unadvisable. It's very 1995, quite out of
fashion now. Read Tim Berners-Lee's article on "Cool URIs." URIs
should just describe content. They are for the user's benefit, not
yours. They are not a place to remind yourself where you stored code,
or what language you write in (hello, .php, .asp, .pl, and .py), or how
your web server gateways with your code.