Command Line Tool - mod_python

Overview of mod_python command

mod_python includes a command-line tool named mod_python. The mod_python command exists to facilitate tasks related to configuration and management of mod_python.

The general syntax for the command is mod_python <subcommand> <arguments> where <subcommand> is a separate tool with its own argument requirements.

mod_python command line tool sub-commands

create

create sub-command creates a simple Apache configuration and a skeleton directory structure necessary for placement of configuration, logs and content. It is meant to be executed only once per lifetime of a project.

The configuration generated by create consists of an httpdconf based version (in Python) which can then be used to generate an actual Apache configuration (by using the genconfig subcommand or simply executing the config files itself). The idea is that the Apache configuration is always generated and the Python version is the one meant for editing/adjustments.

The create subcommand will create the necessary files and directories if they do not exist, but will not overwrite any existing files or directories only producing a warning when a file or directory already exists. It will abort if the Python version of the configuration file already exists.

create requires a single argument: the distination directory, Apache ServerRoot.

create has the following command options:

--listen

A string describing the port and optional IP address on which the server is to listen for incoming requests in the form [ip_address:]port The argument will be applied to the Apache Listen directive as is and therefore must be syntactically compatible with it.

--pythonpath

A colon (":") separate list of paths to be applied to the PythonPath directive.

--pythonhandler

The name of the Python handler to use. Applied to the PythonHandler directive.

--pythonoption

An option to be specified in the configuration. Multiple options are alowed. Applied to the PythonOption directive.

genconfig

This sub-command exists to facilitate re-generation of an Apache configuration from a Python-based one. All it does is run the script, but its use is recommended because the mod_python command will execute the correct version of Python under which mod_python was initially compiled. Example:

mod_python genconfig /path/to/server_root/httpd_conf.py > /path/to/server_root/httpd.conf

start

Starts an Apache instance. Requires a single argument, the path to Apache configuration file.

stop

Stops an Apache instance (using graceful-stop). Requires a single argument, the path to Apache configuration file.

restart

Stops an Apache instance (using graceful). Requires a single argument, the path to Apache configuration file.

version

This sub-command prints out version and location information about this mod_python installation, the Apache HTTP Server and Python used when building this mod_python instance.

Example

To create an Apache instance with all the required directories for a WSGI application which is located in /path/to/myapp and defined in /path/to/myapp/myapp/myapp/wsgi.py, run the following:

mod_python create /path/to/new/server_root \
    --pythonpath=/path/to/my/app \
    --pythonhandler=mod_python.wsgi \
    --pythonoption="mod_python.wsgi.application myapp.wsgi::application"

The above example will create a Python-based configuration in /path/to/new/server_root/conf/http_conf.py which is a simple Pythong script. When executed, the output of the script becomes an Apache configuration (create will take care of generating the first Apache config for you).

You should be able to run this Apache instance by executing:

mod_python start /path/to/new/server_root/conf/httpd.conf