We are excited to announce a new release of Red Hat Dependency Analytics, a solution that enables developers to create better applications by evaluating and adding high-quality open source components, directly from their IDE.

Red Hat Dependency Analytics helps your development team avoid security and licensing issues when building your applications. It plugs into the developer’s IDE, automatically analyzes your software composition, and provides recommendations to address security holes and licensing problems that your team may be missing.

Without further ado, let’s jump into the new capabilities offered in this release. This release includes a new version of the IDE plugin and the server-side analysis service hosted by Red Hat.

Support for Python applications

Along with Java (maven) and JavaScript (npm), Dependency Analytics now offers its full set of capabilities for Python (PyPI) applications. From your IDE, you can perform the vulnerability and license analysis of the “requirements.txt” file of your Python application, incorporate the recommended fixes, and generate the stack analysis report for more details.

Software composition analysis based on current vulnerability data

An estimated 15,000 open source packages get updated every day. On average, three new vulnerabilities get posted every day across JavaScript (npm) and Python (PyPi) packages. With this new release, the server-side analysis service hosted by Red Hat automatically processes the daily updates to open source packages that it is tracking. The hosted service also automatically ingests new vulnerability data posted to National Vulnerability Database (NVD) for JavaScript and Python packages. This allows the IDE plugin and API calls to provide source code analysis based on current vulnerability and release data.

Analyze transitive dependencies

In addition to the direct dependencies included in your application, Dependency Analytics now leverages the package managers to discover and add the dependencies of those dependencies, called “transitive” dependencies, to the dependency graph of your application. Analysis of your application is performed across the whole graph model and recommendations for fixes are provided across the entire set of dependencies.

Recommendations about complementary open source libraries

With this release, Dependency Analytics looks to recommend high-quality open source libraries that are complementary to the dependencies included in your application. The machine learning technology of the hosted service collects and analyzes various statistics on GitHub to curate a list of high-quality open source libraries that can be added to the current set of dependencies to augment your application. You can provide your feedback about the add-on libraries by clicking on the “thumbs-up” or “thumbs-down” icons shown for each recommendation. Your feedback is automatically processed to improve the quality of the recommendations.

IDE plugin support

The Dependency Analytics IDE plugin is now available for VS Code, Eclipse Che, and any JetBrains IDE, including IntelliJ and PyCharm.

We will continuously release new updates to our Dependency Analytics solution so you can minimize the delays in delivery of your applications due to last-minute security and licensing related issues.

Stay tuned for further updates; we look forward to your feedback about Dependency Analytics.

The post What’s new in Red Hat Dependency Analytics appeared first on Red Hat Developer.

The most Pythonic way to import a module from another folder is to place an empty file named __init__.py into that folder and use the relative path with the dot notation. For example, a module in the parent folder would be imported with from .. import module. The __init__.py file signals to Python that the folder should be treated as package.

Problem: How to import a file or a module from another folder or directory in Python?

Example: Say, you’ve given the following folder structure:

application ├── app │ └── folder │ └── file_1.py └── app2 └── some_folder └── file_2.py

Your goal is to import functions from file_1.py in file_2.py.

Method 1: sys.path.append()

The first method appends the path of the file_1.py to the system’s path variable.

# file_2.py

import sys

sys.path.append('/.../application/app/folder') import file_1

Note that you need to replace the first three dots in '/…/application/app/folder' with the concrete path to the applications folder.

Method 2: sys.path.insert()

A similar alternative is to insert the path of file_1.py to position 1 of the system’s path variable. This ensures that it’s loaded with higher priority and avoids some naming conflicts:

# file_2.py

import sys

sys.path.insert(1, '/.../application/app/folder') import file

Again, replace the first three dots in '/…/application/app/folder' with the concrete path to the applications folder.

Method 3: Dot Notation with __init__.py

You can also do the following trick—creating a new package.

# file_2.py

from application.app.folder.file_1 import func_name

However, you need to make sure to include an empty __init__.py file in the directory. This file tells Python to treat the directory as a package. It is considered to be the most Pythonic way of solving this problem.

Method 4: Importlib

A not-so Pythonic alternative is to use the importlib module:

import importlib.util

spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location("file_2", '/.../application/app/folder')

lib = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)

spec.loader.exec_module(foo)

lib.function()

References

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4383571/importing-files-from-different-folder
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/67631/how-to-import-a-module-given-the-full-path?rq=1

Where to Go From Here?

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The post Python — How to Import Modules From Another Folder? first appeared on Finxter.

Last modified on August 13th, 2020.

This is fairly a straightforward topic. Just a few lines of PHP code will do the work of getting the client user IP address. Most of the times it is true, it is all about a few lines of PHP script.

Sometimes things get tricky. We shall see about those things and also an other aspect like the privacy issue involved with it.

Following one line PHP code will get you the client user’s IP address. Then why all the fuss? Read through the article and you will know about it.

$_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];

$_SERVER is a PHP array which is set by the server. Depending on this one line PHP code may not yield the best results in many a situation. For example, if a client is behind a proxy server, then this variable will not be suitable. Also be aware that, these headers can be easily spoofed by the users by setting an IP address themselves.

Following PHP script covers majority of the scenario and returns the user’s IP address.

<?php class Request

{ /** * Retrieves IP address set in the request header. * * Each ISPs sets them following their own logic. There is also a possibility for the user * to easily spoof their IP address. * * So using this for mission critical situations is not advisable. * If you are getting the IP address for casual logging purposes, then this is fine. */ public function getIpAddress() { $ipAddress = ''; if (! empty($_SERVER['HTTP_CLIENT_IP']) && $this->isValidIpAddress($_SERVER['HTTP_CLIENT_IP'])) { // check for shared ISP IP $ipAddress = $_SERVER['HTTP_CLIENT_IP']; } else if (! empty($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'])) { // check for IPs passing through proxy servers // check if multiple IP addresses are set and take the first one $ipAddressList = explode(',', $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR']); foreach ($ipAddressList as $ip) { if ($this->isValidIpAddress($ip)) { $ipAddress = $ip; break; } } } else if (! empty($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED']) && $this->isValidIpAddress($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED'])) { $ipAddress = $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED']; } else if (! empty($_SERVER['HTTP_X_CLUSTER_CLIENT_IP']) && $this->isValidIpAddress($_SERVER['HTTP_X_CLUSTER_CLIENT_IP'])) { $ipAddress = $_SERVER['HTTP_X_CLUSTER_CLIENT_IP']; } else if (! empty($_SERVER['HTTP_FORWARDED_FOR']) && $this->isValidIpAddress($_SERVER['HTTP_FORWARDED_FOR'])) { $ipAddress = $_SERVER['HTTP_FORWARDED_FOR']; } else if (! empty($_SERVER['HTTP_FORWARDED']) && $this->isValidIpAddress($_SERVER['HTTP_FORWARDED'])) { $ipAddress = $_SERVER['HTTP_FORWARDED']; } else if (! empty($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']) && $this->isValidIpAddress($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'])) { $ipAddress = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']; } return $ipAddress; } /** * To validate if an IP address is both a valid and does not fall within * a private network range. * * @access public * @param string $ip */ public function isValidIpAddress($ip) { if (filter_var($ip, FILTER_VALIDATE_IP, FILTER_FLAG_IPV4 | FILTER_FLAG_IPV6 | FILTER_FLAG_NO_PRIV_RANGE | FILTER_FLAG_NO_RES_RANGE) === false) { return false; } return true; } } 

There are many options given all through this article to get the client user’s IP address. This is the best among all the possibilities given, but I highly recommend you to read the section “IP address reliability” below.

Flowchart to get client user’s IP address

I have tried my best minimize the flowchart. Please do not look for diagrammatic accuracy. It is just an attempt to present the above PHP script in a flowchart model. But after drawing I realized that the above PHP script is easier to understand than this flowchart ?

Minimal code to get user’s IP address

Below one line code will work in most of the situation. Read the ‘IP address reliability’ section below, must. It will give you a good idea.

$ipAddress = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']?:($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR']?:$_SERVER['HTTP_CLIENT_IP']); 

Get user’s IP address for CloudFlare hosted websites

I have taken CloudFlare as example. There are many similar services. You need to talk to that service provider to know which request header they are setting and get the IP address accordingly.

When the website is hosted using CloudFlare service, $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] will return the CloudFlare server’s IP address and not the user’s IP address. So in such a situation, you can make use of the variable set by the CloudFlare server to get the IP address.

if (isset($_SERVER["HTTP_CF_CONNECTING_IP"])) { $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] = $_SERVER["HTTP_CF_CONNECTING_IP"]; $ipAddress = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];

} 

IP address reliability

$_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] is the most reliable variable from the above list of variables. REMOTE_ADDR may not contain the real IP address of the TCP connection as well. It depends on the SAPI configuration.

If the user is behind a proxy server, HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR will be set. But this can be easily spoofed by the user by setting an IP address he wishes to expose.

Even the variable X-Forwarded-For or the Client-IP can be set by the user to any value he wishes. So, when you maintain a log of user’s IP address, it is better to store the IP address that is returned by $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] also.

Take an example of a shopping cart. You may display the product price according to the user’s country. In such a scenario, you may use the user’s IP address to determine the user’s country. In such a scenario, the code to get user’s IP address should be fool-proof.

So in summary, if you are building a mission critical application that depends on the user’s IP address, then this is not the way to go. For audit log of the user’s IP address, this may suffice. In essence, understand each line of these PHP code and variables used. Know your use-case well and use it accordingly.

IP address field length

When you are storing the IP address in the database, remember to have the field size as 45 for single IP. Because there is a possibility for IPv6 IP addresses. It its full form the IPv6 IP address can be 45 characters in length.

How to get the IP address of a host

Using a hostname, we can get the server’s IP address using the PHP’s built-in function gethostbyname. This returns the IPv4 address for the host given in argument.

$ipAddress = gethostbyname('www.example.com');

The reverse is possible too by using gethostbyaddr().

Client user’s IP address and privacy issues

Client’s IP address can be considered as private information in certain legislation. It depends on the land of law. Internet is public in general. You never know from which geographic region you will get users.

As per GDPR (Article 4, Point 1; and Recital 49), IP address is a personal data. I would suggest to inform the user and get consent to log the IP address. Also, call it out explicitly in your “Privacy Policy” document.

Explicitly state that you are collecting and logging the client user’s IP address and the reason for doing so.

Conclusion

Understand your use-case well. A good understanding of the scenario in which you are going to get and use the client user’s IP address is important. Then understand that the end user can easily spoof his IP address and present you something else. Third understand each line of the code, the server variables, from where the IP address is fetched, who sets it etc. Then decide how it will impact your use-case. Last but not the least, explicitly call out in your privacy policy that you are getting the client user’s IP address and storing it. Also state why you are doing it. As per GDPR, IP address is user’s personal information and so it would be better to get user’s consent before processing it.

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