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working on why wsgi servers are necessary
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‎feeds/all.atom.xml‎

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
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<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><title>Matt Makai</title><link href="http://www.fullstackpython.com/" rel="alternate"></link><link href="http://www.fullstackpython.com/feeds/all.atom.xml" rel="self"></link><id>http://www.fullstackpython.com/</id><updated>2014-03-15T09:51:43Z</updated></feed>
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<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><title>Matt Makai</title><link href="http://www.fullstackpython.com/" rel="alternate"></link><link href="http://www.fullstackpython.com/feeds/all.atom.xml" rel="self"></link><id>http://www.fullstackpython.com/</id><updated>2014-03-15T10:26:52Z</updated></feed>

‎source/content/pages/07-wsgi-servers/0701-wsgi-servers.markdown‎

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# WSGI Servers
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A [Web Server Gateway Interface](http://wsgi.readthedocs.org/en/latest/)
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(WSGI) server implements the web server side of the WSGI interface for
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running Python web applications. The WSGI standard v1.0 is specified in
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running Python web applications.
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## Why are WSGI servers necessary?
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A traditional web server does not understand or have any way to execute Python
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code. In the late 1990s, a developer named Grisha Trubetskoy
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[came up with an Apache module called mod\_python](http://grisha.org/blog/2013/10/25/mod-python-the-long-story/)
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to execute Python code. For several years in the late 1990s and early 2000s,
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Apache configured with mod\_python ran most of the Python web applications
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on the web.
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However, mod\_python wasn't a standard. It was just an implementation that
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allowed arbitrary Python code to run on a server. As mod\_python's
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development stalled and security vulnerabilities were discovered there
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was recognition by the community that a consistent way to execute Python
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code for web applications was needed.
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Therefore the Python community came up with WSGI as a standard interface that
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modules and containers could implement to run Python applications. WSGI is
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now the accepted approach for running Python web application code.
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## PEP specification
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The WSGI standard v1.0 is specified in
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[PEP 0333](http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0333/). As of September 2010,
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WSGI v1.0 is superseded by
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[PEP 3333](http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3333/), which defines the
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v1.0.1 WSGI standard.
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<img src="theme/img/web-browser-server-wsgi.png" alt="WSGI Server <-> Web server <-> Browser" width="100%" class="technical-diagram" />
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## Example configuration
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A web server's configuration specifies what requests should be passed to
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the WSGI server to process. Once a request is processed and generated by the
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WSGI server, the response is passed back through the web server and onto
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[The Beautiful Simplicity of an nginx and uWSGI Deployments](http://bartek.im/blog/2012/07/08/simplicity-nginx-uwsgi-deployment.html)
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is great reading for understanding Nginx and uWSGI configurations.
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* The Python community made a long effort to
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[transition from mod\_python](http://blog.dscpl.com.au/2010/05/modpython-project-soon-to-be-officially.html)
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to the WSGI standard. That transition period is now complete and an
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implementation of WSGI should always be used instead mod\_python.
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‎wsgi-servers.html‎

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<h1>WSGI Servers</h1>
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<p>A <a href="http://wsgi.readthedocs.org/en/latest/">Web Server Gateway Interface</a>
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(WSGI) server implements the web server side of the WSGI interface for
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running Python web applications. The WSGI standard v1.0 is specified in
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running Python web applications. </p>
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<h2>Why are WSGI servers necessary?</h2>
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<p>A traditional web server does not understand or have any way to execute Python
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code. In the late 1990s, a developer named Grisha Trubetskoy
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<a href="http://grisha.org/blog/2013/10/25/mod-python-the-long-story/">came up with an Apache module called mod_python</a>
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to execute Python code. For several years in the late 1990s and early 2000s,
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Apache configured with mod_python ran most of the Python web applications
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on the web.</p>
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<p>However, mod_python wasn't a standard. It was just an implementation that
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allowed arbitrary Python code to run on a server. As mod_python's
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development stalled and security vulnerabilities were discovered there
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was recognition by the community that a consistent way to execute Python
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code for web applications was needed.</p>
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<p>Therefore the Python community came up with WSGI as a standard interface that<br />
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modules and containers could implement to run Python applications. WSGI is
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now the accepted approach for running Python web application code. </p>
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<h2>PEP specification</h2>
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<p>The WSGI standard v1.0 is specified in
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<a href="http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0333/">PEP 0333</a>. As of September 2010,
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WSGI v1.0 is superseded by
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<a href="http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3333/">PEP 3333</a>, which defines the
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v1.0.1 WSGI standard.</p>
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<p><img src="theme/img/web-browser-server-wsgi.png" alt="WSGI Server <-> Web server &lt;-&gt; Browser" width="100%" class="technical-diagram" /&gt;</p>
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<h2>Example configuration</h2>
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<p>A web server's configuration specifies what requests should be passed to
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the WSGI server to process. Once a request is processed and generated by the
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WSGI server, the response is passed back through the web server and onto
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<a href="http://bartek.im/blog/2012/07/08/simplicity-nginx-uwsgi-deployment.html">The Beautiful Simplicity of an nginx and uWSGI Deployments</a>
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is great reading for understanding Nginx and uWSGI configurations.</p>
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</li>
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<li>
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<p>The Python community made a long effort to
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<a href="http://blog.dscpl.com.au/2010/05/modpython-project-soon-to-be-officially.html">transition from mod_python</a>
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to the WSGI standard. That transition period is now complete and an
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implementation of WSGI should always be used instead mod_python.</p>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<br/>
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