[mod_python] best practices; was "is mod_python borked?"

The following is extracted from Graham's reply with questions of my own
added.  

Note that I use Apache 2.x and python 2.3 and mod_python 3.1.3 on linux.


>As long as you don't run up against the trailing slash and base url issues.
;-)
I gues I haven't hit them, not sure what they are, are they documented
somewhere. Isn't there an Apache module that fixes this?



>Personally I don't like publisher as it is, but to fix it properly would
most
>likely break a lot of existing user code.
I have found that while the publisher code looks cool, it is an empty shell
around my backend, where each function just calls a method in my application
"Controller".  I have to modify that "shell" and also my backend everytime I
add a feature/method to the backend, which is not "DRY".  Graham, do you
have a "best practices" snippet of writing your own handler to function
similar to the url mapping of the publisher.  I see no reason to do more
than pass **kwargs, since that means there is no impact on the backend api
(but of course on the logic) if I add a parameter in the post.


>if you're using Session objects, Best practice is to use code like:

  if not hasattr(req, 'session'):
    req.session = Session.Session(req)

>Things can still get a bit tricky if you are using req.internal_redirect()
>though. What you can do there depends on which version of mod_python you
are
>using.
This is really cool, I was afraid to mess with the request object, but from
this and other posts, it looks like that's a common practice. Is there a
place that documents the differences between 3.1 and 3.2 on the
internal_redirect()


>Anyway, important thing is that it sounds like you have at least not tried
to
>do it in the PythonHandler phase like most do, which to my mind is the
wrong
>way of going about it. It should be done in an earlier phase so that it can
>cover non mod_python stuff as well, like you indicate your version does.


OOPS! :(   I did exactly that.  I had read the info in the manual about not
doing that, 
but then my brain got full.  my apache.conf file follows, can you suggest
changes.

-----------------------apache.conf------------------------------------------
---------------------------
PythonPath "['.', '/home/acctools/accpython'] + sys.path"
ScriptAlias /logic/ "/var/www/modpy/logic/"

<Directory "/var/www/modpy/logic">  #publishers reside here, backend logic
on pythonpath per above
        SetHandler python-program
        PythonHandler  modpy.security mod_python.publisher
        PythonDebug On
</Directory>

<Directory "/var/www/html/rds">
        AddHandler mod_python .html
        PythonHandler  modpy.passthru #passthru calls the handler in
security, then writes the url
        PythonDebug On
</Directory>
-------------------------------------------------------------



-----------------------security.py---------------------------
#note: I've edited this to reflect the earlier advice on sessions, but have
not tested yet
# in cleaning this up for public viewing, it may not compile.


def handler(req):
    if not hasattr(req, 'session'):
	  req.session = Session.Session(req)    
    uname = req.session.get(UNAME, None)
    if uname==None: 
        cookie = get_cookie(req, ACC_COOKIE)  #my simple function, std
mod_python cookie stuff
        if cookie == None:
            return util.redirect(req, MY_LOGIN_URL)
        else:
            uname = get_uname_from_corporate_server(cookie)
            if uname==None:        
                return util.redirect(req, MY_LOGIN_URL)
            elif uname[:5]==ERROR: 
                return apache.HTTP_FORBIDDEN
            else:
                req.session[UNAME] = uname
    return apache.OK
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