webadmin-devel

developing with php

[Yohanes A. G. <lie...@ya...>]

i'm a newbie and i'm trying to create a site that can function like webmin 
only i'm going to use php?
is it possible to create something simillar to webmin from php?
if it is then can anyone give me any hint how can I call webmin's function 
from php?
or do i have to create my own modules under php?

Re: developing with php

[Joe C. <jo...@sw...>]

Got three years to spare?  ;-)  (Webmin has been under serious 
development for at least that long...)

To answer your question more seriously:

If you have to ask these kinds of questions, you're not going to have 
the skills needed to reinvent even a small part of Webmin for some time 
to come, regardless of the language used.  A serious PHP /and/ Perl 
hacker with some C skills could probably come up with appropriate glue 
to allow you to write integrated Webmin modules in PHP given enough time 
and inclination.

I'm pretty sure the easier path is simply to learn perl well enough to 
write your module(s) in the language that Webmin currently uses.  You'll 
find Perl to be not much different than PHP, when it comes down to the 
actual gritty bits that do all the work--some things will be easier, 
while other things will be harder.  Depending on your programming 
experience, and enthusiasm, you could potentially be writing reasonably 
good module code in under a month (that's about how long it took me to 
start writing real useful modules--nothing like Jamie's best modules, 
but not entirely ugly, either).

That said, if you really, /really/ must go about it this way, you have a 
couple of choices:

Setup Webmin to run under Apache.  This will allow you to run PHP 
programs alongside Webmin.  You'll then need to teach your PHP modules 
how to deal with ACLs from Webmin, and will also have to have all of the 
normal Webmin files (config.info, module.info, etc.).  This isn't really 
writing a Webmin module in PHP, but it will look roughly like a Webmin 
module, and depending on how clever you are with PHP you can probably 
make it act extremely similar to a Webmin module.

Start with some other similar project that is already written in PHP. 
There are a few out there, I'm sure.  Everybody and his brother who has 
learned a few lines of PHP has had the same thought: "This is easy!  I 
could write a cool program to do ________."  A few of them have probably 
even gotten some working code out there.  So look for something that 
addresses some or all of your needs, and build from there.  You won't 
find anything even approaching Webmin's functionality, but maybe you 
don't need all of the functionality of Webmin for your project.

In all cases, beware of security issues...It is real easy to build 
something that will allow any random user to own your server.

Yohanes Adi Gunawan wrote:
> i'm a newbie and i'm trying to create a site that can function like webmin 
> only i'm going to use php?
> is it possible to create something simillar to webmin from php?
> if it is then can anyone give me any hint how can I call webmin's function 
> from php?
> or do i have to create my own modules under php?

-- 
Joe Cooper <jo...@sw...>
Web caching appliances and support.
http://www.swelltech.com

Re: developing with php

[Sandro D. <san...@ti...>]

> That said, if you really, /really/ must go about it this way, you have a 
> couple of choices:
> 
> Setup Webmin to run under Apache.  This will allow you to run PHP 


  Is it really needed? I read no mention about it! (nor I understand it!)

  while I managed to use w/ success webmin.py (python library, used only to
  test the example), I was not able to run any example in php.

  I'd like to know if somebody knows of a module written in php, the author
  of web-lib.php (Nicolas Faurant) did not write an e-mail in the file, and
  provided no examples, please, if you read this, let us know...

  Here is the misbehaviour:

     If the php script contains #!/usr/bin/php4, that same string will be
     output to the browser and a warning will be issued:

   Warning: Cannot add header information - headers already sent by (output
   started at /usr/share/webmin/uptimephp/index.cgi:2) in
   /usr/share/webmin/web-lib.php on line 25

     if '-q'(quiet) option is used, no header is issued by php4 and "no input
     specified" appears in the browser.

  I have no problem w/ cgi scripts in bash, tcl, python, awk... what has php
  special? 
  
  Thanks in advance for any reply
  
  sandro
  *:-)




-- 
Sandro Dentella  *:-)
e-mail: san...@ti... 
http://www.tksql.org                    TkSQL Home page - My GPL work

Re: developing with php

[Joe C. <jo...@sw...>]

Sandro Dentella wrote:
>>That said, if you really, /really/ must go about it this way, you have a 
>>couple of choices:
>>
>>Setup Webmin to run under Apache.  This will allow you to run PHP 
> 
> 
> 
>   Is it really needed? I read no mention about it! (nor I understand it!)
> 
>   while I managed to use w/ success webmin.py (python library, used only to
>   test the example), I was not able to run any example in php.

Whoah!  I had no idea web-lib had been ported to PHP.  I knew there was 
a Python port, though.  I didn't even know PHP could be run standalone 
(I thought it had to have a module in the webserver...shows how much I 
know about PHP).

In that case, it looks like maybe an issue with Webmin not treating it 
as an executable, perhaps?

Have you tested to be sure it runs correctly from the command line?

And have you checked the PHP web-lib routines that you're using to make 
sure they are correct?  It appears to be a 'quick' port...I don't know 
that I would expect it to work perfectly from the get go.
-- 
Joe Cooper <jo...@sw...>
Web caching appliances and support.
http://www.swelltech.com

Re: developing with php

[Sandro D. <san...@ti...>]

> Have you tested to be sure it runs correctly from the command line?

Sure I did it.

> And have you checked the PHP web-lib routines that you're using to make 
> sure they are correct?  It appears to be a 'quick' port...I don't know 
> that I would expect it to work perfectly from the get go.

Not at all, my trial script -php.cgi-, is as simple as:

    #!/usr/bin/php4 -q
    <?php
    echo "Content-type: text/html\n\n" ;
    echo "Ciao\n";
    ?>

note that the following shell script -sh.cgi-, just works:

    #!/bin/sh
    echo Content-type: text/html
    echo

    echo Ciao

The php scripts works from command line, but from inside webmin returns "No
input file specified"

If you take off the "-q" switch in '#!/usr/bin/php4" php4 will issue a
header (X-Powered-By: PHP/4.1.2 \nContent-type: text/html), the script
executes but the line with '#!...' staff is echoed to the browser...

I think this has really to do with something in the way miniserv.pl deals
with cgi scripts. Since I saw quite a lot of other people asking these
questions on php list, it would be really nice to get an answer from people
that understand how miniserv.pl works.

Thanks in advance. And of course thanks to Jamie for Webmin that makes so
easy to let people administer their boxes...


sandro
*:-)


-- 
Sandro Dentella  *:-)
e-mail: san...@ti... 
http://www.tksql.org                    TkSQL Home page - My GPL work

Re: developing with php: the solution

[Sandro D. <san...@ti...>]

  After some hours studying env variables set by apache and miniserv, I
  understood it: miniserv.pl does not set SCRIPT_FILENAME to the complete name
  of the cgi script. It it sufficent to add:

	  $ENV{"SCRIPT_FILENAME"} = $full;

  somewhere aroung line 1300 depending on your webmin release, where all
  environment variables are defined and php will work correctly..., 
  that is to say, it does not issue any "#!/usr/bin/php4" to the browser and 
  phpinfo() works.

  Now we can have a look at web-lib.pl! Should someone know of a module
  developed with this library, please let me know.

sandro
*:-)



-- 
Sandro Dentella  *:-)
e-mail: san...@ti... 
http://www.tksql.org                    TkSQL Home page - My GPL work

Re: developing with php: the solution

[Joe C. <jo...@sw...>]

Good to hear you got it figured out.  I ran out of ideas about two 
seconds after you said "php".  ;-)

Does this change break standard Webmin modules?

Sandro Dentella wrote:
>   After some hours studying env variables set by apache and miniserv, I
>   understood it: miniserv.pl does not set SCRIPT_FILENAME to the complete name
>   of the cgi script. It it sufficent to add:
> 
> 	  $ENV{"SCRIPT_FILENAME"} = $full;
> 
>   somewhere aroung line 1300 depending on your webmin release, where all
>   environment variables are defined and php will work correctly..., 
>   that is to say, it does not issue any "#!/usr/bin/php4" to the browser and 
>   phpinfo() works.
> 
>   Now we can have a look at web-lib.pl! Should someone know of a module
>   developed with this library, please let me know.
> 
> sandro
> *:-)
> 
> 
> 


-- 
Joe Cooper <jo...@sw...>
Web caching appliances and support.
http://www.swelltech.com

PHP, SCRIPT_FILENAME and miniserv.pl patch?

[Sandro D. <san...@ti...>]

> >  of the cgi script. It it sufficent to add:
> >
> >	  $ENV{"SCRIPT_FILENAME"} = $full;
> >

On Wed, Oct 09, 2002 at 05:17:35PM -0500, Joe Cooper wrote:
> Good to hear you got it figured out.  I ran out of ideas about two 
> seconds after you said "php".  ;-)
> 
> Does this change break standard Webmin modules?

I guess it does not, everything seems to work. Jamie, Can we ask this
variable being added in miniserv.pl in future releases?


sandro
*:-)


-- 
Sandro Dentella  *:-)
e-mail: san...@ti... 
http://www.tksql.org                    TkSQL Home page - My GPL work

Re: PHP, SCRIPT_FILENAME and miniserv.pl patch?

[Jamie C. <jca...@we...>]

Sandro Dentella wrote:

>>> of the cgi script. It it sufficent to add:
>>>
>>>	  $ENV{"SCRIPT_FILENAME"} = $full;
>>>
>>>
> 
> On Wed, Oct 09, 2002 at 05:17:35PM -0500, Joe Cooper wrote:
> 
>>Good to hear you got it figured out.  I ran out of ideas about two 
>>seconds after you said "php".  ;-)
>>
>>Does this change break standard Webmin modules?
>>
> 
> I guess it does not, everything seems to work. Jamie, Can we ask this
> variable being added in miniserv.pl in future releases?

No problems .. I've already put it in.


  - Jamie

Developing with Python (Was: developing with php)

[Wil C. <wc...@na...>]

On Tue, 2002-10-08 at 22:12, Joe Cooper wrote:
=20
> Whoah!  I had no idea web-lib had been ported to PHP.  I knew there was=20
> a Python port, though.  I didn't even know PHP could be run standalone=20
> (I thought it had to have a module in the webserver...shows how much I=20
> know about PHP).

Anyone know how far along this project it?  I'd really love to develop
with Python, but the last time I looked, it was nowhere near completion.

Wil
--=20
Wil Cooley                                 wc...@na...
Naked Ape Consulting                        http://nakedape.cc
* * * * Linux, UNIX, Networking and Security Solutions * * * *
QCSNet                                     http://www.qcsn.com
* * * * T1, Frame Relay, DSL, Dial-up, and Web Hosting * * * *

Re: Developing with Python (Was: developing with php)

[Jamie C. <jca...@we...>]

Wil Cooley wrote:

> On Tue, 2002-10-08 at 22:12, Joe Cooper wrote:
>  
> 
>>Whoah!  I had no idea web-lib had been ported to PHP.  I knew there was 
>>a Python port, though.  I didn't even know PHP could be run standalone 
>>(I thought it had to have a module in the webserver...shows how much I 
>>know about PHP).
>>
> 
> Anyone know how far along this project it?  I'd really love to develop
> with Python, but the last time I looked, it was nowhere near completion.


Have a look at http://www.cendio.se/~peter/python-webmin/
I'm not sure how far along it is though ..

  - Jamie

Re: Developing with Python (Was: developing with php)

[Sandro D. <san...@ti...>]

On Thu, Oct 10, 2002 at 07:43:55PM -0700, Wil Cooley wrote:
> On Tue, 2002-10-08 at 22:12, Joe Cooper wrote:
>  
> > Whoah!  I had no idea web-lib had been ported to PHP.  I knew there was 
> > a Python port, though.  I didn't even know PHP could be run standalone 
> > (I thought it had to have a module in the webserver...shows how much I 
> > know about PHP).

I tried it and it seem to work, not all functions have been ported but this
is not a real problem. It needs python2.2: I had problems w/ python 2.1 and
the author suggested me to use 2.2. 

Yesterday I noticed that it doesn't work if you have texttitles defined (no
matter if is 0 or 1), but it shouldn't be difficult to fix it.

It you download the tarball you'll see an example of a (very little) module.

sandro
*:-)




-- 
Sandro Dentella  *:-)
e-mail: san...@ti... 
http://www.tksql.org                    TkSQL Home page - My GPL work