Hey,

In reading through Tim Honkalammi's Debian pages I came across [link|http://dastrike.dyndns.org/sysinfo/|this] [link|http://sourceforge.net/projects/phpsysinfo/|PHPsysinfo] listing. The script seems very powerful and looks like it would be a useful thing to try to understand as a way of learning how PHP interacts with the system. However, since there aren't enough hours in the day, I'd like to find similar functionality in python. Nothing jumps out at me searching various fields for "system information" at [link|http://www.python.org/pypi?:action=search_form|PyPI].

My bias is that PHP has a history of exploits that python doesn't. Is that historical baggage that I shouldn't worry about? Is it "safe" to have PHP installed on a Debian system that one is learning without fear of being rooted by a script-kiddie if a patch isn't applied instantly? Does similar functionality exist in python, or should I use the best tool for the job and just bite the bullet and learn both (and keep them well patched)?

Thanks a bunch.

Cheers,
Scott.