homelist.py: A Python script to generate a list of user homepages

Since we're using Python generators, a relatively new feature, we have to import generators as a “future” feature before doing any other imports.

#================================================================
# Imports
#----------------------------------------------------------------

from __future__ import generators    # Allow generators

The sys module contains the standard I/O streams such as sys.stdout, the standard output stream.

import sys

The Python ldap module handles communication with the LDAP server. For more information, see LDAP client API for Python.

import ldap

The os module allows us to access Posix file systems so we can check for readable homepages. The related stat module is used for interpreting status values from a directory entry.

import os
import stat

The Python time module is needed so we can timestamp the output.

import time

The xmlcreate.py module is a package for XML file generation. Its interface is described in Python and the XML Document Object Model (DOM).