3.2 Quick Overview of how Apache Handles Requests
If you would like delve in deeper into the functionaloty of
mod_python, you need to understand what a handler is.
Apache processes requests in phases. For example, the first
phase may be to authenticate the user, the next phase to verify
whether that user is allowed to see a particular file, then (next
phase) read the file and send it to the client. A typical static file
request involves three phases: (1) translate the requisted URI to a
file location (2) read the file and send it to the client, then (3)
log the request. Exactly which phases are processed and how varies
greatly and depends on the configuration.
A handler is a function that processes one phase. There may be
more than one handler available to process a particular phase, in
which case they are called by Apache in sequence. For each of the
phases, there is a default Apache handler (most of which by default
perform only very basic functions or do nothing), and then there are
additional handlers provided by Apache modules, such as mod_python.
Mod_python provides every possible handler to Apache. Mod_python
handlers by default do not perform any function, unless specifically
told so by a configuration directive. These directives begin with
"Python" and end with "Handler"(e.g. PythonAuthenHandler ) and associate a phase with a Python
function. So the main function of mod_python is to act as a dispatcher
between Apache handlers and Python functions written by a developer
like you.
The most commonly used handler is PythonHandler . It handles the
phase of the request during which the actual content is
provided. Becausee it has no name, it is sometimes referred to as as
generic handler. The default Apache action for this handler is
to read the file and send it to the client. Most applications you will
write will override this one handler. To see all the possible
handlers, refer to Section 5,
Apache Directives.
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