Headless Client

planta_headless.py receives all parameters via command line, except for the authentication secret which is read from a file for security reasons. This file has to contain the PLANTA user's password and is supposed to be readable only by the machine user(s) eligible for launching jobs in the name of that PLANTA user. Confining such auth secret files within the machine user's $HOME directory and applying octal permissions 0400 should be sufficient to provide a reasonable level of security, while any further means of access control at the administrator's disposal is encouraged.

The headless client is mostly self-explanatory, that is, invoking with the parameter --help will display usage information.

# planta_headless.py --version
planta_headless.py 39 Mars

# planta_headless.py --help
Usage: planta_headless.py [options]

Options:
  --version             show program's version number and exit
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -q, --quiet           suppress all output (default)
  -v, --verbose         increase verbosity level with each occurrence: info
                        messages, XML sent, XML received

  Connection settings:
    -s HOST:PORT, --service=HOST:PORT
                        service to connect to

  Login options:
    -u USER_NAME, --user=USER_NAME
                        name of the user to log on to the PLANTA system
    -a TYPE, --auth_type=TYPE
                        type of authentication used to log on to the PLANTA
                        system: "osuser" or "challenge"
    -p SECRET_FILE, --secret=SECRET_FILE
                        file containing the authentication secret

  Job specifications:
    -m MOD_ID, --module=MOD_ID
                        subsequent job is the ID of a module to invoke on the
                        server
    -f PYTHON_FILE, --py_file=PYTHON_FILE
                        subsequent job is a python file to execute on the
                        server
    -c PYTHON_CODE, --py_code=PYTHON_CODE
                        subsequent job is a python code snippet to execute on
                        the server