View source for Python Paste

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{{Short description|Python web development utilities}}

{{Multiple issues|
{{refimprove|date=December 2017}}
{{notability|Products|date=May 2021}}
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{{Infobox software
| name                   = Paste
| logo                   = 
| developer              = Ian Bicking
| released               = {{start date|2005}}
| latest release version = 2.0.3
| latest release date    = {{start date and age|2016|03|08}}
| programming language   = [[Python (programming language)|Python]]
| operating system       = [[Cross-platform]]
| genre                  = [[Web framework]]
| license                = [[MIT License]]
}}
'''Python Paste''', often simply called '''paste''', is a set of [[utility software|utilities]] for [[web development]] in [[Python (programming language)|Python]].  Paste has been described as "a framework for [[web framework]]s".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://blog.ianbicking.org/its-not-another-damn-framework.html|title = It's Not Another Damn Framework}}</ref>

The Python Paste package contains Python modules that help in implementing [[Web Server Gateway Interface|WSGI]] middleware.

The package includes a WSGI wrapper for [[Common Gateway Interface|CGI]] applications. It also includes a simple webserver that can produce WSGI requests.

==WSGI middleware==
The [[Web Server Gateway Interface|WSGI]] standard is an interface that allows applications to use Python code to handle HTTP requests. A '''WSGI application''' is passed a Python representation of an HTTP request by an application, and returns content which will normally eventually be rendered by a web browser. A common use for this is when a [[web server]] serves content created by Python code.

There are, however, other uses: '''WSGI middleware''' is Python code that receives a WSGI request and then performs logic based upon this request, before passing the request on to a WSGI application or more WSGI middleware. WSGI middleware appears to an application as a server, and to the server as an application. This is analogous to the function of [[Pipeline (Unix)|pipes on Unix systems]]. Functionality provided by WSGI middleware may include authentication, logging, [[URL redirection]], creation of [[session (computer science)|session]]s, and compression.

Paste helps in developing such WSGI middleware systems. For example, it is used in the [[Pylons (web framework)|Pylons]] web application framework.

==Subcomponents of Paste ==
Paste has been a long-running open source project, dating from at least 2005. As it has grown, it has unbundled several other utilities from the Paste core. These utilities are part of the Paste project, but form their own packages and have their own version numbers. They include:
* Paste Deploy is a system for finding and configuring WSGI applications and servers.
* Paste Script, ScriptType, INITools, Tempita, WaitForIt, WPHP, WSGIFilter, and WSGIProxy are other notable bundles.
* WebTest
* WebOb is a wrapper around the WSGI environment.
WebTest and WebOb have migrated and are now part of the [[Pylons project]].

==See also==
* [[TurboGears]]
* [[Pylons project]]
* [[Seaside (software)|Smalltalk Seaside]]
* [[Java servlet]]
* [[Internet Server Application Programming Interface]] (ISAPI)
* [[FastCGI]]
* [[Apache Thrift]] (from Facebook and Evernote teams)
* [[Server-side JavaScript]]
* [[PHP]]
* [[Web framework]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==

{{Python web frameworks}}
{{Web server software}}

[[Category:Python (programming language) web frameworks]]