[Developers] Update: App Engine Support

[Alexander Botero-Lowry]

I actually put together a patch today to add urlfetch support to
freebase-python. Httplib2, which is our recommended http fetching
library, does not support cookie management either, and so I was able
to adapt the code that adds cookelib support to httplib2 for the urlfetch
code as well.

I have commit access to freebase-python, but I'm waiting for nix or
tim to give me an ok, because I did some restructuring that I'm not
sure they'll be happy with, before I commit the change.

If they're cool with the restructuring, it should be helpful for
problems like this in the future as well. I turned http client support
on HttpMetawebSession into a Mixin, and so all one needs to do is create
a new mixin and set http_mixin to reference it.

Alex

> The basic problem is that appengine doesn't support the basic Python  
> 'urllib' interface upon which most HTTP-based APIs are built,  
> including our own 'freebase' package: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/freebase
> 
> This means you have to manually do all sorts of things like cookie  
> management manually through urlfetch()
> 
> Ian Bicking has put together a package called 'appengine-monkey' (https://appengine-monkey.googlecode.com/ 
> ) that monkey-patches the appengine to provide support for urllib, but  
> it's really fragile, and doesn't work with all the 3rd party libraries  
> out there.
> 
> If you're a python developer interested in appengine, I highly  
> recommend you go star that bug to vote for your support...this isn't  
> just a freebase issue!
> http://code.google.com/p/googleappengine/issues/detail?id=61
> 
> (just click the little star in the upper left hand corner of the bug...)
> 
> Alec
> 
> 
> On Jun 11, 2008, at 10:57 AM, Jason Douglas wrote:
> 
> > Unless I missed something, the bug just talks about upgrading to a
> > different library.  What specifically was the issue with using the
> > Freebase APIs via the current urlfetch() method in App Engine?
> >
> > -jason
> >
> > On Jun 10, 2008, at 11:49 PM, Jams Alexander Levy wrote:
> >
> >> Thanks for linking to my applications last week!
> >>
> >> If you visited, you've noticed that my apps - like http://testy.appspot.com
> >> - are deployed on Google App Engine. In general, I've been very
> >> pleased with app engine, but it's urlfetch() method for GET and POST
> >> calls is limited, and right now it results in an inability to use
> >> many APIs. I've therefore used MJT for live calls to Freebase.
> >>
> >> If you're interested, here's more information on this issue: http://code.google.com/p/googleappengine/issues/
> detail?id=61
> >>
> >> I went to work earlier today on porting metaweb.py for app engine
> >> deployment, and using a makeshift replacement for the httplib, I was
> >> able to get it to partially work in the development environment!
> >> Unfortunately, it still doesn't work in the production environment.
> >>
> >> I'm monitoring a few discussions and groups for a fix and keeping my
> >> fingers crossed. Regardless of monopoly politics, I expect App
> >> Engine to soon make it easier to share open-source apps built with
> >> the Freebase platform.
> >>
> >>
> >> take care,
> >> james _______________________________________________
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> >> Developers at freebase.com
> >> http://lists.freebase.com/mailman/listinfo/developers
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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