Perl vs. python vs. Lua?

[Alan DeKok]

On Feb 27, 2018, at 8:28 AM, Dom Latter <freeradius-users at latter.org> wrote:
> we have been using the exec module with version 2 to run an external PHP
> script that (for example) assigns a VLAN depending on the user's
> location [1] - this is done post-auth.
> 
> We have migrated to freeradius version 3.

  That's good...

> I note from
> http://networkradius.com/doc/3.0.10/raddb/mods-available/exec.html
> that
> "The exec module may look like it works for one or two tests, but in a
> live situation it can cause the server to become unresponsive under
> load. The perl module is recommended for general-purpose computing."
> 
> Now if I had read that four years ago I'd not have gone down the
> exec route... anyway.

  Yeah.  

> So it seems to me we need to rewrite the exec module using one
> of the scripting modules.
> 
> So I am wondering how the python module compares to the perl module.

  Both work.

> I found and read a great post from Herwin Weststrate <herwin at quarantainenet.nl> from November 2016 that explains
> some of the differences.
> 
> I'd rather use python than perl, all else being equal.

  Python is fine.

> Lua is an outlier of an option.

 There's no lua module in v3.

  Alan DeKok.