Gregory Trubetskoy <[email protected]> July 1997
Chevy Chase, MD USA

What this is:

Nsapy is an extension to the Netscape http server that
embeds Python interpreter within the server to allow writing
NSAPI applications in Python.

Copyright:

Please read the file COPYRIGHT included here for information on
Licensing and additional Copyright notices.

Requirements:

Netscape http server (FastTrack, Enterprise, etc.)
and Python.

The following was tested so far:

NT 4.0 - Netscape Fasttrack, Enterprise 2.01 and 3.0
Solaris 2.5 - Enterprise 2.01 and 3.0

Documentation:

Most of the documentation is provided as source code comments at
the beginning of nsapimodule.c and nsapy.py. At the very least
you should read these comments.

I ecnourage you to read the book "Internet Programming with
Python" (details in the COPYRIGHT file) and Netscape
documentation at http://deleveloper.netscape.com/ to gain an
understating of NSAPI and embedding Python.

Compiling:

I included binary versions here, but if you don't trust me ( I
don't see why you should ), you should be able to compile this
using the Makefile on UNIX or the *.mak file on NT ( MS VC++ 4.2 ).

You will need sources for Python. Edit the makefile on UNIX, on
VC++ go to Tools|Options|Directories|Library Files and edit those,
then in Build|Setting|C/C++|Preprocessor edit Additional include
directories.

Quickstart:

On Windows NT, depending on whether you have version 3.0 or 
2.0 of Netscape server, use _nsapy30.dll or _nsapy20.dll.

On Solaris, use _nsapy20.so or _nsapy30.so.

1. Copy the dlls into a directory, e.g. C:\Nsapy or /usr/local/lib/nsapy. 

2. Edit your server's mime.types. Add this line:

type=magnus-internal/X-python-e exts=pye,pyd

3. Edit your server's obj.conf file. Add these lines at the top
of the file:

Init funcs="nsapy_Init,nsapy_Service,nsapy_AuthTrans"  fn="load-modules" shlib="/usr/local/lib/nsapy/_nsapy20.so"
( on NT: ... shlib="C:/Nsapy/_nsapy20.dll" )
Init fn="nsapy_Init" initstring="nsapy.init()" module="nsapy"

And this line in the <Object name=default> section:

Service fn="nsapy_Service" method="(GET|HEAD|POST)" type="magnus-internal/X-python-e"

4. Make sure that nsapy.py and nsapytest.py are in your *server*
PYTHONPATH (i.e. don't assume that your PYTHONPATH is the same as
what the server uses because most likely you're running as different
users). The easiest (not wisest) thing to do is to copy them into your
Python Lib directory. I recommend keeping all nsapy-related stuff 
in a separate directory. Also remember that Windows Python keeps its 
"PYTHONPATH" (global to all users) in the registry in 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Python\PythonCore\1.4.0\PythonPath

(I am not sure why, but I had to make a symlink from 
/usr/local/lib/python1.4 to /usr/local/lib/python on my Solaris
system to make it work)

5. Restart the server

If you get a message (on NT it will be in your event viewer) like this:
  "nsapy_Init: after nsapy.init() no callback object found"
doublecheck your PYTHONPATH and make sure nsapy.py is in it. 

6. Try looking at http://yourhost/nsapytest.pye or
http://yourhost/nsapytest.pyd

E-mail me if this doesn't work - [email protected]

That's it!