Hello mod_wsgi — ACLARK.NET

It seems I've inadvertently started another series of blog entry

It seems I've inadvertently started another series of blog entry: the "hello world" series, wherein I explain how to easily get started with various exciting Python technologies.

This time, in order to familiarize myself with mod_wsgi, I've created a buildout to automate some of the processes explained in:

http://code.google.com/p/modwsgi/wiki/QuickInstallationGuide

(This series also helps me to subtly introduce the zc.buildout "extendables" I have been working on. More on those in a future post.)

The extendables

The extendables make it easy to bootstrap a development environment with complex software requirements, via zc.buildout. In this case, I want to be able to type:

$ test-apache test-dir

And get a working, disposable Apache instance minutes later. I also want that Apache to come with a mod_wsgi app installed and working.

Setup

First we use the aforementioned extendable, like so:

$ virtualenv test-dir
$ cd test-dir
$ bin/pip install zc.buildout
$ bin/buildout init

Edit the buildout.cfg to look like this:

[buildout]
extends = https://raw.github.com/pythonpackages/buildout-apache-modwsgi/master/2.2.x

Run buildout:

$ bin/buildout

Assuming successful completion, you should be able to run Apache in the foreground via:

$ bin/supervisord -e debug -n

Now check http://localhost:8080.

This works because the "extendable" (buildout configuration file) contains:

The little WSGI app from the QuickInstallationGuide, templatized via collective.recipe.template.
A templatized httpd.conf file.

I like to automate the process even further with the following script:

#!/bin/shmkdir $1
virtualenv-2.6 $1
cd $1
bin/easy_install zc.buildout
bin/buildout init
cat << EOF > buildout.cfg
[buildout]
extends = https://raw.github.com/pythonpackages/buildout-apache-modwsgi/master/2.2.x
EOF
bin/buildout
bin/supervisord -e debug -n

Thus closing the loop on this blog entry, and making the following possible:

$ test-apache test-dir

I've been using my test-plone script for years now, and I'm hoping that the test-apache script proves just as useful (especially as Plone moves closer to a WSGI-supporting stack via Zope 2.13).