From: Lloyd Zusman <ljz@...>
Date: 2005-03-07T00:57:48+09:00
Subject: Something like Snakelets in the ruby world?

I recently have been looking at a piece of Python software called
"Snakelets", which I would characterize as "WEBrick += 1".  I'm
wondering if there is something like it in the ruby world.

When I say "something like it", I mean a program that offers the
following features:

- It is very lightweight.  In other words, it's not a full-blown
  application server, but rather, it's a simple and compact system for
  serving up web content, like WEBrick.  I have looked at Rails, and
  while I find it to be a full-featured and impressive piece of
  software, it's more heavyweight and "application-server-like" than the
  software I'm looking for.  If you compare Rails' capabilities to those
  of this Snakelets package, you'll see what I mean.

- It handles virtual hosts and multiple web sites under a single
  instance of the program.  This is managed through a directory
  structure and a set of configuration files.

- It has built in session management capabilities that can be turned on
  and off on a site-by-site basis simply by the means of directives in
  each site's configuration file.

- It has built in authentication capabilitis that can be turned on
  and off and configured on a site-by-stie basis simply by means of
  directives in each site's configuration files.

- It has buit in capabilities for managing file uploads.

- It manages dynamic content like Erb does.  This happens automatically
  when the name of the file that is being served has a certain suffix,
  and it can be further controlled for other files by means of
  configuration variables.

- It serves up *.html and other standard web content automatically.

- By means of configuration directives, "servlets" can be associated
  with various uri patterns within a given site.  These servlets are
  implemented in the program's native language (python in the case of
  Snakelets, ruby in the case of this hypothetical package that I'm
  seeking).

- Changes in content are noticed at run time.

I know that all of this can be implemented today by means of WEBrick and
the WEBrick::Session module, but adding sites, managing sessions,
etc. all involve ruby coding.  I'm looking for something in ruby that
allows this to be managed via configuration files within a standard
directory structure, with a minimum of coding necessary for setting up
sites ...  as is done in the Snakelets software.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

-- 
 Lloyd Zusman
 ljz@asfast.com
 God bless you.