[sf-perl] Browser front ends to perl back ends

[Rich Morin]

If you're only going to be wrapping a few commands,
you can get away with writing the wrappers by hand.
If you're going to be doing dozens (or hundreds), a
mechanized approach may become worthwhile.

That is, figure out a way to describe the pages and
their actions in a declarative manner, then write a
generator (or interpreter) that creates the desired
page for each URL.  Vicki did something like this,
20 years ago, for the "Commando" feature of A/UX.

I'm sure you know this, but it needs to be said:

  Creating gateways from web pages to commands
  is a really easy way to introduce security
  holes!

So, be cautious.  Run the commands with the minimum
possible privilege.  Check all user input carefully.
Like that...

-r
-- 
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm            Rich Morin
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/resume     rdm at cfcl.com
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/weblog     +1 650-873-7841

Technical editing and writing, programming, and web development