Re: [boost] [soc07][cgi] RFC: use-cases/scope

From: Jose (jmalv04_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-04-25 13:51:17

On 4/25/07, Darren Garvey <lists.drrngrvy_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>
> Hi Jose,
>
> On 25/04/07, Jose <jmalv04_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> >
> > I forgot to ask, which cases below are you targeting ?
> > (i thought 1, 2, 3)
>
>
> If the 1,2,3 implies the three emails, I'll just clarify that _everything_
> to do with 'output formatting' is excluded from the library.
> Provisionally,
> the only output ability will be via operator<<, write(), write_file() -
> for
> a response that is a file - and print_file() - for a response that
> _contains_ a file as well as other data. (feel free to disagree)

The numbers refer to the use cases:

1) CGI output support
2) FCGI deamon support (and optionally FCGI on the c++ web server side to
interface to the FCGI daemon)
3) an improved asio http server that supports CGI pages (this would be very
useful)
4) advanced applications, like debugging

On 4/23/07, Jose <jmalv04_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > The project should make it clear how it supports different needs and
> it
> > > allows a basic to advanced path:
> > >
> > > CGI:  support to allow any c++ program to output results to a browser
> > > (typical cases are to output a html or an image via a web server)
> > >
> > > FCGI,SCGI: support to build  a server deamon that interfaces to  a web
> > > server via tcp sockets (e.g. apache front-end via mod_fcgi to a custom
> > c++
> > > daemon)
>
>
> This is the main focus of the SoC project.
>
> > Web server: support to build a basic web server tied to a c++
> application
> > > but with the web server also supporting CGI/FCGI on the server-side (
> > e.g.
> > > improved asio http server)
>
>
> This would, of course, be nice. However I'm not sure how much of a mammoth
> task it'd be. Support for general HTTP would come first, that would be the
> first step to a full-blown server. Obviously, I don't have any delusions
> about this getting done any time soon (or even by me at all - someone
> might
> beat me to it).

Basic HTTP 1.0 is already in the example. What  would be nice is  to expand
the server so that it can
run CGI scripts.

> Advanced - simulations, debugging: support to build a web server thread
> > > that can be used to debug the application or to query the status of a
> > long
> > > running application via a web browser
> > > <http://code.google.com/p/gperftools-httpd/> (see
> > > http://code.google.com/p/gperftools-httpd/)
>
>
> Debugging would be very handy although, again, this isn't planned for this
> summer. Being able to query the status of the program would be possible
> using the planned structure: stuff like the number of requests handled,
> request queue size, etc. would all be accessible via the 'service' class.
> However, the ability to do it via a web browser wouldn't be part of the
> library.
>
> One way to do this would be to use asio to have the main program (a
> FastCGI
> responder, for instance) to set up a listening socket, which could take
> queries and translate them into actions on the 'service' object, returning
> the result. To make this info accessible via a browser, all you'd need to
> do
> is set up a program that accepts cgi requests, connects to the listening
> socket on the main program, and acts as a gateway for the
> requests/responses.
>
> [snip]
>
> Cheers,
> Darren
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