Um. We're getting a little bogged down here, but...
1) PHP is commonly implemented via CGI by many webhosts, even today. Not only is it generally considered more secure, but it lets you easily run multiple versions behind the same Apache instance. The performance hit isn't bad, either. So I'm not sure what "PHP is ... better than CGI" even means.
2) PHP is not particularly stable and it is not uncommon for a PHP process to hang until killed, often soaking up 100% CPU time. The stateless nature does make it easier to just kill it whenever it goes crazy, but it doesn't really have anything to do with how often it goes crazy.
3) You can configure servers in all sorts of ways, but there's nothing inherently harder about WSGI. You absolutely can just "kill the process".
4) I honestly have no idea what you mean by "a forking-style server for Python". Is there something you dislike about all the current ones? :)
People seem really hung up on the idea that Python and WSGI are not supported by cheap shared webhosts. If you ever think "gee, I wish I had some decent shared WSGI hosting for less than $10/month" the answer is Webfaction. :)
> 3) You can configure servers in all sorts of ways, but there's nothing inherently harder about WSGI.
I'm willing to believe this - but if it's true, where are the cheap shared webhosts with WSGI enabled? Or do you think there's some other reason PHP is so much more widely available?
1) PHP is commonly implemented via CGI by many webhosts, even today. Not only is it generally considered more secure, but it lets you easily run multiple versions behind the same Apache instance. The performance hit isn't bad, either. So I'm not sure what "PHP is ... better than CGI" even means.
2) PHP is not particularly stable and it is not uncommon for a PHP process to hang until killed, often soaking up 100% CPU time. The stateless nature does make it easier to just kill it whenever it goes crazy, but it doesn't really have anything to do with how often it goes crazy.
3) You can configure servers in all sorts of ways, but there's nothing inherently harder about WSGI. You absolutely can just "kill the process".
4) I honestly have no idea what you mean by "a forking-style server for Python". Is there something you dislike about all the current ones? :)