Django

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Ticket #7317 (closed: fixed)

Opened 6 months ago

Last modified 3 months ago

XViewMiddleware should not be enabled by default.

Reported by: anonymous Assigned to: jacob
Milestone: 1.0 Component: Documentation
Version: SVN Keywords:
Cc: Triage Stage: Accepted
Has patch: 0 Needs documentation: 1
Needs tests: 0 Patch needs improvement: 0

Description

The XViewMiddleware is enabled by default and it is causing problems and confusion, see #7299 and http://toofishes.net/blog/django-middleware-order/ , quoting from there: "I don't really know what XView does, so it is last. It isn't that important.".

That's because

  • it is enabled by default AND
  • its purpose is too vaguely defined: Sends custom X-View HTTP headers to HEAD requests that come from IP addresses defined in the INTERNAL_IPS setting. This is used by Django’s automatic documentation system.

The middleware can be safely disabled and should be documented as such. Although I have looked at the source, I fail to see it's purpose for the general public. The only "automatic documenatation" system I have encountered is the context from exception backtraces. *If* it is used there, this should be stated -- "The automatic documentation system is mainly useful to see exception backtrace context in debug mode. You can disable it in production mode."

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

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Change History

05/28/08 06:55:17 changed by anonymous

  • needs_better_patch changed.
  • component changed from Tools to Documentation.
  • needs_tests changed.
  • needs_docs changed.

05/29/08 03:09:30 changed by mrts

  • needs_docs set to 1.
  • stage changed from Unreviewed to Design decision needed.

Indeed, looks like the XViewMiddleware is not used anywhere internally, perhaps it should not be enabled by default? 

$ grep -r XViewMiddleware django/ | egrep -v '(\.svn|\.pyc)'
django/middleware/doc.py:class XViewMiddleware(object):
django/conf/global_settings.py:    'django.middleware.doc.XViewMiddleware',
django/conf/project_template/settings.py:    'django.middleware.doc.XViewMiddleware',

$ grep -r 'X-View' django/ | egrep -v '(\.svn|\.pyc)'
django/middleware/doc.py:    Adds an X-View header to internal HEAD requests -- used by the documentation system.
django/middleware/doc.py:            response['X-View'] = "%s.%s" % (view_func.__module__, view_func.__name__)

06/24/08 04:09:25 changed by mrts

James explains the purpose of XViewMiddleware quite well http://www.b-list.org/weblog/2007/nov/07/bookmarklets/ . Perhaps some of it could be borrowed for documentation.

As nfa has a separate documentation app not enabled by default, XViewMiddleware should also be disabled by default and enabled only if the former is enabled.

08/18/08 05:59:55 changed by mrts

  • milestone set to 1.0 maybe.

Targeting to 1.0-maybe.

08/22/08 18:59:29 changed by jacob

  • owner changed from nobody to jacob.
  • status changed from new to assigned.
  • stage changed from Design decision needed to Accepted.
  • summary changed from XViewMiddleware should be documented better to XViewMiddleware should not be enabled by default..
  • milestone changed from 1.0 maybe to 1.0.

(changed description -- the docs are fine, but it shouldn't be on by default)

08/25/08 07:59:27 changed by jacob

  • status changed from assigned to closed.
  • resolution set to fixed.

Fixed in [8537].

Add/Change #7317 (XViewMiddleware should not be enabled by default.)




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