Programming Python, Second Edition

The Root Page

Let’s start at the top. In this chapter we will study the complete implementation of PyErrata, but readers are also encouraged to visit the web site where it lives to sample the flavor of its interaction first-hand. Unlike PyMailCgi, there are no password constraints in PyErrata, so you can access all of its pages without any configuration steps.

PyErrata installs as a set of HTML files and Python CGI scripts, along with a few image files. As usual, you can simply point your web browser to the system’s root page to run the system live while you study this chapter. Its root page currently lives here:^[114]

http://starship.python.net/~lutz/PyErrata/pyerrata.html

If you go to this address, your browser will be served the page shown in Figure 14-2. PyErrata supports both submission and browsing of comments and error reports; the four main links on this page essentially provide write and read access to its databases over the Web.

Figure 14-2. PyErrata main page

The static HTML code file downloaded to produce this page is listed in Example 14-1. The only parts we’re interested in are shown in bold: links to the submission and browsing pages for comments and errata. There is more to this page, but we’re only dealing with the parts shown in the screen shot. For instance, the site will eventually also include resource page HTML files (e.g., Python resources and changes), but ...