[Web-SIG] Re: Preferred set of WSGI servers

[Steve Holden]

Rene Dudfield wrote:
> On 4/30/05, Steve Holden <steve at holdenweb.com> wrote:
> 
[snippety snip]
>>
>>Seems to me that mod_python isn't really suitable for a shared-hosting
>>environment because of the need to restart the server when
>>indirectly-imported modules are updated, a situation that I believe
>>mod_python does not detect.
>>
> 
> 
> 
> I think this is changed since a recent python2.4?  Not sure if it also
> affects mod_python...
> 
> 
> from the release notes 'What's New in Python 2.4?':
> http://www.python.org/2.4.1/NEWS.html
> 
> """When importing a module M raises an exception, Python no longer
> leaves M in sys.modules. Before 2.4a2 it did, and a subsequent import
> of M would succeed, picking up a module object from sys.modules
> reflecting as much of the initialization of M as completed before the
> exception was raised. Subsequent imports got no indication that M was
> in a partially- initialized state, and the importers could get into
> arbitrarily bad trouble as a result (the M they got was in an
> unintended state, arbitrarily far removed from M's author's intent).
> Now subsequent imports of M will continue raising exceptions (but if,
> for example, the source code for M is edited between import attempts,
> then perhaps later attempts will succeed, or raise a different
> exception).
> 
> This can break existing code, but in such cases the code was probably
> working before by accident. In the Python source, the only case of
> breakage discovered was in a test accidentally relying on a damaged
> module remaining in sys.modules. Cases are also known where tests
> deliberately provoking import errors remove damaged modules from
> sys.modules themselves, and such tests will break now if they do an
> unconditional del sys.modules[M]."""
> 
> 
This doesn't affect the situation I was talking about, which has nothing 
to do with import errors. mod_python will reload one of its application 
modules if the code is updated on disk - it checks the source files, 
IIRC, to verify they are still valid.

However, if that module imports another, and that other module is 
changed, mod_python doesn't "follow the chain" to reload the imported 
module.

Of course, for pure-Python modules you could arrange to have a page that 
reloaded all relevant modules, but this is effectively working around 
the framework rather than using it, it requires separate management, it 
won't work for extension modules (which can't be reloaded) and it may 
well leave incompatible objects from previous module versions lying 
around to cause trouble.

regards
  Steve
-- 
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