Python on Heroku

[phob]

You can run python on heroku with a system call from a ruby app. Just run something like:

@output = `echo \"#{variable}\" | python script.py`.

This will let you read standard out from a python script.

[nolite]

is this documented, or something you just stumbled upon?

[silverlight]

The fact that you can use the backticks to run commands on the server itself is well documented both from a Ruby standpoint and a Heroku standpoint (several of their examples in their documentation use this method to execute a variety of commands).

As for using Python, like another poster said it's included in most Linux distros, and Heroku is really just running a Linux distro at the end of the day. I imagine that if you wanted to run a really simple script they wouldn't care, but I wouldn't build my whole app around it, because they can turn it off at any time.

[SingAlong]

most(all?) linux distros ship with atleast a minimal version of python. I guess that's the reason

[nolite]

yeah ok, but if they run you in a chroot environment, you get nothing. They're also under no obligation to add python to your PATH.. a ton of reasons this could not be the case

[mckoss]

Perf will suck. Like running a CGI process for each request if using this for python web app.