DevOps in Python: Infrastructure as Python

© Moshe Zadka 2019

Moshe ZadkaDevOps in Pythonhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-4433-3_4

4. OS Automation

Moshe Zadka¹ 

(1)

Belmont, CA, USA

 

Python was initially built to automate a distributed operating system called an “amoeba.” Though the Amoeba OS is mostly forgotten, Python has found a home in automating UNIX-like operating systems tasks.

Python wraps the traditional UNIX C API lightly, giving full access to the system calls that run UNIX while making them just a little safer to use: an approach that was dubbed “C with foam padding.” This willingness to wrap low-level operating system APIs has made it a good choice for the wide berth between the programs that UNIX shell is good for, and the programs the C programming language is good for.

As the ...