Cleaning up cruft, simplifying default config, and improving docs.

21 files changed, 239 insertions, 288 deletions

diff --git a/docs/source/configuration.rst b/docs/source/configuration.rst
index cf005b5..05e6f30 100644
--- a/docs/source/configuration.rst
+++ b/docs/source/configuration.rst
@@ -3,25 +3,13 @@
 Configuration
 =============
 Pecan is very easy to configure. As long as you follow certain conventions,
-using, setting and dealing with configuration should be very intuitive.
+using, setting and dealing with configuration should be very intuitive.  
 
-Pecan configuration files are pure Python.  These files need to specify the values in a key/value way (Python
-dictionaries) or if you need simple one-way values you can also specify them as
-direct variables (more on that below).
+Pecan configuration files are pure Python.
 
-Even if you want custom configuration values, you need to get them in the
-configuration file as dictionaries.
-
-No Configuration
-----------------
-What happens when no configuration is passed? Or if you are missing some values?
-Pecan fills in anything that you might have left behind, like specific values or  
-even if you leave them out completely. This includes
-**app** and **server** but will not, however, include any custom configurations.
-
-Defaults
---------
-Below is the complete default values the framework uses::
+Default Values
+---------------
+Below is the complete list of default values the framework uses::
 
 
     server = {
@@ -31,9 +19,9 @@ Below is the complete default values the framework uses::
 
     app = {
         'root' : None,
+        'modules' : [],
         'static_root' : 'public', 
-        'template_path' : '',
-        'debug' : False
+        'template_path' : ''
     }
 
 
@@ -42,10 +30,9 @@ Below is the complete default values the framework uses::
 
 Application Configuration
 -------------------------
-This is the part of the configuration that is specific to your application.
-Things like debug mode, Root Controller and possible Hooks, should be specified
-here. This is what is used when the framework is wrapping your application into
-a valid WSGI app.
+This is the part of the configuration that is specific to your application -
+the framework uses it to wrap your application into a valid 
+`WSGI app <http://www.wsgi.org/en/latest/what.html>`_.
 
 A typical application configuration might look like this::
 
@@ -60,23 +47,24 @@ A typical application configuration might look like this::
 
 Let's look at each value and what it means:
 
-**app** is a reserved variable name for the configuration, so make sure you are
-not overriding, otherwise you will get default values.
+**app** is a reserved variable name for the configuration, so make sure you
+don't override it.
 
 **root** The root controller of your application. Remember to provide
 a string representing a Python path to some callable (e.g.,
-`yourapp.controllers.root.RootController`).
+``"yourapp.controllers.root.RootController"``).
 
 **static_root** Points to the directory where your static files live (relative
-to the project root).
+to the project root).  By default, Pecan comes with middleware that can be
+used to serve static files (like CSS and Javascript files) during development.
 
 **template_path** Points to the directory where your template files live
 (relative to the project root).
 
 **reload** - When ``True``, ``pecan serve`` will listen for file changes and
-restare your app (especially useful for development).
+restart your app (especially useful for development).
 
-**debug** Enables ``WebError`` to have display tracebacks in the browser 
+**debug** Enables ``WebError`` to display tracebacks in the browser 
 (**IMPORTANT**: Make sure this is *always* set to ``False`` in production
 environments).
 
@@ -85,7 +73,7 @@ environments).
 
 Server Configuration
 --------------------
-Pecan provides some defaults.  Change these to alter the host and port your
+Pecan provides some sane defaults.  Change these to alter the host and port your
 WSGI app is served on::
 
     server = {
@@ -93,6 +81,17 @@ WSGI app is served on::
         'host' : '0.0.0.0'
     }
 
+Additional Configuration
+------------------------
+Your application may need access to other configuration values at runtime 
+(like third-party API credentials).  These types of configuration can be
+defined in their own blocks in your configuration file::
+
+    twitter = {
+        'api_key' : 'FOO',
+        'api_secret' : 'SECRET'
+    }
+
 .. _accessibility:
 
 Accessing Configuration at Runtime 
diff --git a/docs/source/index.rst b/docs/source/index.rst
index 9315e61..f005387 100644
--- a/docs/source/index.rst
+++ b/docs/source/index.rst
@@ -12,10 +12,9 @@ Contents:
    
    installation.rst
    quick_start.rst   
+   commands.rst
    routing.rst
-   validation_n_errors.rst
    configuration.rst
-   commands.rst
    templates.rst
    rest.rst
    secure_controller.rst
@@ -42,7 +41,6 @@ for building HTTP-based applications, including:
 
  * Object-dispatch for easy routing
  * Full support for REST-style controllers
- * Validation and error handling
  * Extensible security framework
  * Extensible template language support
  * Extensible JSON support
@@ -75,13 +73,14 @@ docstrings here:
    pecan_core.rst
    pecan_configuration.rst
    pecan_decorators.rst
-   pecan_default_config.rst
+   pecan_deploy.rst
    pecan_hooks.rst
    pecan_jsonify.rst
    pecan_rest.rst
    pecan_routing.rst
    pecan_secure.rst
    pecan_templating.rst
+   pecan_testing.rst
    pecan_util.rst
 
 
diff --git a/docs/source/installation.rst b/docs/source/installation.rst
index 2f43623..a0588b7 100644
--- a/docs/source/installation.rst
+++ b/docs/source/installation.rst
@@ -6,27 +6,26 @@ Installation
 Stable Version
 ------------------------------
 
-We recommend installing Pecan with ``pip`` but you can also try with
-``easy_install`` and ``virtualenv``. Creating a spot in your environment where
+We recommend installing Pecan with ``pip``, but you can also try with
+``easy_install``. Creating a spot in your environment where
 Pecan can be isolated from other packages is best practice.
 
-To get started with an environment for Pecan, create a new
-`virtual environment <http://www.virtualenv.org>`_::
+To get started with an environment for Pecan, we recommend creating a new
+`virtual environment <http://www.virtualenv.org>`_ using `virtualenv 
+<http://www.virtualenv.org>`_::
 
     virtualenv pecan-env
     cd pecan-env 
     source bin/activate
 
-The above commands create a virtual environment and *activate* it. Those
-actions will encapsulate any dependency installations for the framework,
-making it easier to debug problems if needed.
+The above commands create a virtual environment and *activate* it. This
+will isolate Pecan's dependency installations from your system packages, making
+it easier to debug problems if needed.
 
 Next, let's install Pecan::
 
     pip install pecan 
 
-After a lot of output, you should have Pecan successfully installed.
-
 
 Development (Unstable) Version
 ------------------------------
@@ -35,8 +34,8 @@ need to install git and clone the repo from GitHub::
 
     git clone https://github.com/dreamhost/pecan.git
 
-If your virtual environment is still activated, call ``setup.py`` to install
-the development version::
+Assuming your virtual environment is still activated, call ``setup.py`` to
+install the development version::
 
     cd pecan
     python setup.py develop
diff --git a/docs/source/jsonify.rst b/docs/source/jsonify.rst
index 31bde69..dc5657b 100644
--- a/docs/source/jsonify.rst
+++ b/docs/source/jsonify.rst
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ we want to use to return ``JSON`` output for a ``User`` object::
     
     class UsersController(object):
         @expose('json')
-        @validate()
         def current_user(self):
             '''
             return an instance of myproject.model.User which represents
diff --git a/docs/source/pecan_default_config.rst b/docs/source/pecan_default_config.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 656bffa..0000000
--- a/docs/source/pecan_default_config.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,32 +0,0 @@
-.. _pecan_default_config:
-
-:mod:`pecan.default_config` -- Pecan Default Configuration
-==========================================================
-
-The :mod:`pecan.default_config` module contains the default configuration
-for all Pecan applications.
-
-.. automodule:: pecan.default_config
-  :members:
-  :show-inheritance:
-
-The default configuration is as follows::
-
-    # Server Specific Configurations
-    server = {
-        'port' : '8080',
-        'host' : '0.0.0.0'
-    }
-
-    # Pecan Application Configurations
-    app = {
-        'root' : None,
-        'modules' : [],
-        'static_root' : 'public', 
-        'template_path' : '',
-        'debug' : False,
-        'force_canonical' : True,
-        'errors' : {
-            '__force_dict__' : True
-        }
-    }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docs/source/pecan_deploy.rst b/docs/source/pecan_deploy.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bcda855
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/source/pecan_deploy.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+.. _pecan_deploy:
+
+:mod:`pecan.deploy` -- Pecan Deploy
+===========================================
+
+The :mod:`pecan.deploy` module includes fixtures to help deploy Pecan
+applications.
+
+.. automodule:: pecan.deploy
+  :members:
+  :show-inheritance:
diff --git a/docs/source/pecan_testing.rst b/docs/source/pecan_testing.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..09d76aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/source/pecan_testing.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+.. _pecan_testing:
+
+:mod:`pecan.testing` -- Pecan Testing
+===========================================
+
+The :mod:`pecan.testing` module includes fixtures to help test Pecan
+applications.
+
+.. automodule:: pecan.testing
+  :members:
+  :show-inheritance:
diff --git a/docs/source/quick_start.rst b/docs/source/quick_start.rst
index d8c2aa9..f2ff1f0 100644
--- a/docs/source/quick_start.rst
+++ b/docs/source/quick_start.rst
@@ -18,9 +18,9 @@ your shell, type::
 
     $ pecan create
 
-The above command will prompt you for a project name. I chose *test_project*,
-but you can also provided as an argument at the end of the example command
-above, like::
+The above command will prompt you for a project name. This example uses
+*test_project*, but you can also provide an argument at the end of the
+example command above, like::
 
     $ pecan create test_project
 
@@ -36,8 +36,7 @@ This is how the layout of your new project should look::
     ├── public
     │   ├── css
     │   │   └── style.css
-    │   └── javascript
-    │       └── shared.js
+    │   └── images
     ├── setup.cfg
     ├── setup.py
     └── test_project
@@ -51,12 +50,12 @@ This is how the layout of your new project should look::
         ├── templates
         │   ├── error.html
         │   ├── index.html
-        │   ├── layout.html
-        │   └── success.html
+        │   └── layout.html
         └── tests
             ├── __init__.py
-            ├── test_config.py
-            └── test_root.py
+            ├── config.py
+            ├── test_functional.py
+            └── test_units.py
 
 The amount of files and directories may vary, but the above structure should
 give you an idea of what you should expect.
@@ -64,7 +63,7 @@ give you an idea of what you should expect.
 A few things have been created for you, so let's review them one by one:
 
 * **public**: All your static files (like CSS and Javascript) live here. If you
-  have any images (this example app doesn't) they would live here too.
+  have any images they would live here too.
 
 
 The remaining directories encompass your models, controllers and templates, and
@@ -162,17 +161,14 @@ This is how it looks in the project template
 
     class RootController(object):
 
-        @expose(
-            generic     = True, 
-            template    = 'index.html'
-        )
+        @expose(generic=True, template='index.html')
         def index(self):
             return dict()
-        
+
         @index.when(method='POST')
-        def index_post(self, name, age):
-            return dict(name=name)
-        
+        def index_post(self, q):
+            redirect('http://pecan.readthedocs.org/en/latest/search.html?q=%s' % q)
+
         @expose('error.html')
         def error(self, status):
             try:
@@ -194,21 +190,10 @@ this method.
 Notice that the index method returns a dictionary - this dictionary is used as
 a namespace to render the specified template (``index.html``) into HTML.
 
-**def index_post**: receives 2 arguments (*name* and *age*) that are validated
-through the *SampleForm* schema.
+**def index_post**: receives one HTTP POST argument (``q``).
 
 ``method`` has been set to 'POST', so HTTP POSTs to the application root (in
 our example, form submissions) will be routed to this method.
 
-The ``error_handler`` has been set to index.  This means that when errors are
-raised, they will be sent to the index controller and rendered through its
-template.
-
 **def error**: Finally, we have the error controller that allows your application to 
 display custom pages for certain HTTP errors (404, etc...).
-
-Application Interaction
------------------------
-If you still have your application running and you visit it in your browser,
-you should see a page with some information about Pecan and the form so you can
-play a bit.
diff --git a/docs/source/routing.rst b/docs/source/routing.rst
index f936254..498383f 100644
--- a/docs/source/routing.rst
+++ b/docs/source/routing.rst
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 .. _routing:
 
-Routing
-=======
+Controllers and Routing
+=======================
 
 When a user requests a certain URL in your app, how does Pecan know which
-controller to route to? Pecan uses a method known as **object-dispatch** to map an
-HTTP request to a controller. Object-dispatch begins by splitting the
+controller to route to? Pecan uses a routing strategy known as 
+**object-dispatch** to map an HTTP request to a controller. 
+
+Object-dispatch begins by splitting the
 path into a list of components and then walking an object path, starting at
 the root controller. You can imagine your application's controllers as a tree
 of objects (branches of the object tree map directly to URL paths). Let's look 
@@ -49,6 +51,77 @@ controller. Using the ``catalog`` object, Pecan would then lookup
 ``books``, followed by ``bestsellers``. What if the URL ends in a slash?
 Pecan will check for an ``index`` method on the current object. 
 
+To illustrate further, the following paths...
+
+::
+
+    └── /
+        ├── /hours
+        └── /catalog
+             └── /catalog/books
+                └── /catalog/books/bestsellers
+
+Would route to the following controller methods...
+
+::
+
+    └── RootController.index
+        ├── RootController.hours
+        └── CatalogController.index
+             └── BooksController.index
+                └── BooksController.bestsellers
+
+Exposing Controllers
+--------------------
+
+At its core, ``@expose`` is how you tell Pecan which methods in a class
+are publically-visible controllers. If a method is *not* decorated with
+``@expose``, it will not be routed to.  ``@expose`` accepts three optional
+parameters, some of which can impact routing. 
+
+::
+
+    from pecan import expose
+
+    class RootController(object):
+        @expose(
+            template        = None,
+            content_type    = 'text/html',
+            generic         = False
+        )
+        def hello(self):
+            return 'Hello World' 
+
+
+Let's look at an example using ``template`` and ``content_type``:
+
+::
+
+    from pecan import expose
+
+    class RootController(object):
+        @expose('json')
+        @expose('text_template.mako', content_type='text/plain')
+        @expose('html_template.mako')
+        def hello(self):
+            return {'msg': 'Hello!'}
+
+You'll notice that we used three ``expose`` decorators. 
+
+The first tells Pecan to serialize the response namespace using JSON
+serialization when the client requests ``/hello.json``. 
+
+The second tells Pecan to use the ``text_template.mako`` template file when the
+client requests ``/hello.txt``. 
+
+The third tells Pecan to use the html_template.mako template file when the 
+client requests ``/hello.html``. If the client requests ``/hello``, Pecan will 
+use the ``text/html`` content type by default.
+
+Please see :ref:`pecan_decorators` for more information on ``@expose``.
+
+
+
 Routing Algorithm
 -----------------
 
@@ -60,8 +133,8 @@ methods on your controller objects provides additional flexibility for
 processing all or part of a URL.
 
 
-``_lookup``
------------
+Routing to Subcontrollers with ``_lookup``
+------------------------------------------
 
 The ``_lookup`` special method provides a way to process a portion of a URL, 
 and then return a new controller object to route to for the remainder.
@@ -75,8 +148,8 @@ resort, when no other controller matches the URL via standard object-dispatch.
 
 ::
 
-    from pecan import expose
-    from mymodel import get_student_by_name
+    from pecan import expose, abort
+    from somelib import get_student_by_name
 
     class StudentController(object):
         def __init__(self, student):
@@ -98,11 +171,11 @@ resort, when no other controller matches the URL via standard object-dispatch.
 An HTTP GET request to `/8/name` would return the name of the student
 where `primary_key == 8`.
 
-``_default``
-------------
+Falling Back with ``_default``
+------------------------------
 
-The ``_default`` controller is called when no other controller methods
-match the URL via standard object-dispatch.
+The ``_default`` controller is called as a last resort when no other controller 
+methods match the URL via standard object-dispatch.
 
 ::
 
@@ -110,20 +183,24 @@ match the URL via standard object-dispatch.
 
     class RootController(object):
         @expose()
-        def hello(self):
+        def english(self):
             return 'hello'
 
         @expose()
-        def bonjour(self):
+        def french(self):
             return 'bonjour'
 
         @expose()
         def _default(self):
-            return 'I cannot say hi in that language'
+            return 'I cannot say hello in that language'
+
+
+...so in the example above, a request to ``/spanish`` would route to 
+``RootController._default``.
             
 
-Overriding ``_route``
----------------------
+Defining Customized Routing with ``_route``
+-------------------------------------------
 
 The ``_route`` method allows a controller to completely override the routing 
 mechanism of Pecan. Pecan itself uses the ``_route`` method to implement its
@@ -135,71 +212,68 @@ will enable you to have total control.
 Controller Arguments
 --------------------
 
-A controller can receive arguments in a variety of ways, including ``GET`` and 
-``POST`` variables, and even chunks of the URL itself. ``GET`` and ``POST`` 
-arguments simply map to arguments on the controller method, while unprocessed
-chunks of the URL can be passed as positional arguments to the controller method.
+In Pecan, HTTP ``GET`` and ``POST`` variables that are `not` consumed 
+during the routing process can be passed onto the controller as arguments.
+
+Depending on the signature of your controller, these arguments can be mapped
+explicitly to method arguments:
 
 ::
 
     from pecan import expose
 
     class RootController(object):
-        @expose(generic=True)
-        def index(self):
-            return 'Default case'
+        @expose()
+        def index(self, arg):
+            return arg
 
-        @index.when(method='POST')
-        def index_post(self):
-            return 'You POSTed to me!'
+        @expose()
+        def kwargs(self, **kwargs):
+            return str(kwargs)
 
-        @index.when(method='GET')
-        def index_get(self):
-            return 'You GET me!'
+::
 
+    $ curl http://localhost:8080/?arg=foo
+    foo
+    $ curl http://localhost:8080/kwargs?a=1&b=2&c=3
+    {u'a': u'1', u'c': u'3', u'b': u'2'}
 
-Helper Functions
-----------------
-
-Pecan also provides several useful helper functions. The ``redirect``
-function allows you to issue internal or ``HTTP 302`` redirects. 
-The ``redirect`` utility, along with several other useful helpers, 
-are documented in :ref:`pecan_core`.
+...or can be consumed positionally:
 
+::
 
-``@expose``
------------
+    from pecan import expose
 
-At its core, ``@expose`` is how you tell Pecan which methods in a class
-are publically-visible controllers. ``@expose`` accepts eight optional
-parameters, some of which can impact routing. 
+    class RootController(object):
+        @expose()
+        def args(self, *args):
+            return ','.join(args)
 
 ::
 
-    expose(template        = None,
-           content_type    = 'text/html',
-           generic         = False)
-
+    $ curl http://localhost:8080/one/two/three
+    one,two,three
 
-Let's look at an example using template and content_type
+The same effect can be achieved with HTTP ``POST`` body variables:
 
 ::
 
-    from pecan import decorators
+    from pecan import expose
 
     class RootController(object):
-        @expose('json')
-        @expose('text_template.mako', content_type='text/plain')
-        @expose('html_template.mako')
-        def hello(self):
-            return {'msg': 'Hello!'}
+        @expose()
+        def index(self, arg):
+            return arg
 
-You'll notice that we used three expose decorators. The first tells
-Pecan to serialize our response namespace using JSON serialization when 
-the client requests ``/hello.json``. The second tells the templating
-engine to use ``text_template.mako`` when the client request ``/hello.txt``. 
-The third tells Pecan to use the html_template.mako when the client
-requests ``/hello.html``. If the client requests ``/hello``, Pecan will 
-use the text/html template.
+::
 
-Please see :ref:`pecan_decorators` for more information on ``@expose``.
+    $ curl -X POST "http://localhost:8080/" -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" -d "arg=foo"
+    foo
+
+Helper Functions
+----------------
+
+Pecan also provides several useful helper functions for moving between
+different routes. The ``redirect`` function allows you to issue internal or 
+``HTTP 302`` redirects.  The ``redirect`` utility, along with several other 
+useful helpers, are documented in :ref:`pecan_core`.
diff --git a/docs/source/templates.rst b/docs/source/templates.rst
index 7ba33e1..8f8357c 100644
--- a/docs/source/templates.rst
+++ b/docs/source/templates.rst
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ The ``render`` helper is also quite simple to use::
 The JSON Renderer
 -----------------
 
-Pecan provides a `JSON` renderer by simple passing ``@expose('json')``. For 
+Pecan also provides a `JSON` renderer, e.g.,  ``@expose('json')``. For 
 more information on using `JSON` in Pecan, please refer to :ref:`jsonify` and
 :ref:`pecan_jsonify`.
 
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ more information on using `JSON` in Pecan, please refer to :ref:`jsonify` and
 Custom Renderers
 ----------------
 
-To define a custom renderer, you simply create a class that follows a simple
+To define a custom renderer, you can create a class that follows a simple
 protocol::
 
     class MyRenderer(object):
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ protocol::
             return str(namespace)
 
 
-To enable your custom renderer, you can define a ``custom_renderers`` key In
+To enable your custom renderer, you can define a ``custom_renderers`` key in
 your application's configuration::
 
     app = {
diff --git a/docs/source/validation_n_errors.rst b/docs/source/validation_n_errors.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index facc4d6..0000000
--- a/docs/source/validation_n_errors.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-.. _validation_n_errors:
-
-Validation and Error Handling
-=============================
-TODO: Rewrite this (potentially as an extension/cookbook) to illustrate the
-new technique (without formencode).
diff --git a/pecan/__init__.py b/pecan/__init__.py
index 8f95f28..2828e1b 100644
--- a/pecan/__init__.py
+++ b/pecan/__init__.py
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-'''
-'''
-
 from paste.cascade import Cascade
 from paste.errordocument import make_errordocument
 from paste.recursive import RecursiveMiddleware
@@ -11,7 +8,7 @@ from weberror.evalexception import EvalException
 
 from core import (
     abort, override_template, Pecan, load_app, redirect, render,
-    request, response, ValidationException
+    request, response
 )
 from decorators import expose
 from hooks import RequestViewerHook
@@ -29,18 +26,21 @@ __all__ = [
 
 def make_app(root, static_root=None, debug=False, errorcfg={},
              wrap_app=None, logging=False, **kw):
-    '''
 
-    '''
+    # A shortcut for the RequestViewerHook middleware.
     if hasattr(conf, 'requestviewer'):
         existing_hooks = kw.get('hooks', [])
         existing_hooks.append(RequestViewerHook(conf.requestviewer))
         kw['hooks'] = existing_hooks
 
+    # Instantiate the WSGI app by passing **kw onward
     app = Pecan(root, **kw)
+    # Optionally wrap the app in another WSGI app
     if wrap_app:
         app = wrap_app(app)
+    # Included for internal redirect support
     app = RecursiveMiddleware(app)
+    # Support for interactive debugging (and error reporting)
     if debug:
         app = EvalException(
             app,
@@ -49,9 +49,13 @@ def make_app(root, static_root=None, debug=False, errorcfg={},
         )
     else:
         app = ErrorMiddleware(app, **errorcfg)
-    app = make_errordocument(app, conf, **dict(conf.app.errors))
+    # Configuration for serving custom error messages
+    if hasattr(conf.app, 'errors'):
+        app = make_errordocument(app, conf, **dict(conf.app.errors))
+    # Support for serving static files (for development convenience)
     if static_root:
         app = Cascade([StaticURLParser(static_root), app])
+    # Support for simple Apache-style logs
     if isinstance(logging, dict) or logging == True:
         app = TransLogger(app, **(isinstance(logging, dict) and logging or {}))
     return app
diff --git a/pecan/configuration.py b/pecan/configuration.py
index bc4b757..a903ac8 100644
--- a/pecan/configuration.py
+++ b/pecan/configuration.py
@@ -17,13 +17,7 @@ DEFAULT = {
         'root': None,
         'modules': [],
         'static_root': 'public',
-        'template_path': '',
-        'debug': False,
-        'logging': False,
-        'force_canonical': True,
-        'errors': {
-            '__force_dict__': True
-        }
+        'template_path': ''
     }
 }
 
@@ -190,7 +184,7 @@ def initconf():
 
 def set_config(config, overwrite=False):
     '''
-    Updates the global configuration a filename.
+    Updates the global configuration.
 
     :param config: Can be a dictionary containing configuration, or a string
     which
diff --git a/pecan/core.py b/pecan/core.py
index 261c83d..ce71260 100644
--- a/pecan/core.py
+++ b/pecan/core.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 from configuration      import _runtime_conf, set_config
 from templating         import RendererFactory
 from routing            import lookup_controller, NonCanonicalPath
-from util               import _cfg, splitext, encode_if_needed
+from util               import _cfg, encode_if_needed
 
 from webob              import Request, Response, exc
 from threading          import local
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ from itertools          import chain
 from mimetypes          import guess_type, add_type
 from paste.recursive    import ForwardRequestException
 from urlparse           import urlsplit, urlunsplit
+from os.path            import splitext
 
 try:
     from simplejson import loads
@@ -116,17 +117,6 @@ def redirect(location=None, internal=False, code=None, headers={},
     raise exc.status_map[code](location=location, headers=headers)
 
 
-def error_for(field):
-    '''
-    A convenience function for fetching the validation error for a
-    particular field in a form.
-
-    :param field: The name of the field to get the error for.
-    '''
-
-    return request.pecan['validation_errors'].get(field, '')
-
-
 def render(template, namespace):
     '''
     Render the specified template using the Pecan rendering framework
@@ -142,31 +132,6 @@ def render(template, namespace):
     return state.app.render(template, namespace)
 
 
-class ValidationException(ForwardRequestException):
-    '''
-    This exception is raised when a validation error occurs using Pecan's
-    built-in validation framework.
-    '''
-
-    def __init__(self, location=None, errors={}):
-        if state.controller is not None:
-            cfg = _cfg(state.controller)
-        else:
-            cfg = {}
-        if location is None and 'error_handler' in cfg:
-            location = cfg['error_handler']
-            if callable(location):
-                location = location()
-        if 'pecan.params' not in request.environ:
-            request.environ['pecan.params'] = dict(request.params)
-        request.environ[
-            'pecan.validation_errors'
-        ] = request.pecan['validation_errors']
-        request.environ['REQUEST_METHOD'] = 'GET'
-        request.environ['pecan.validation_redirected'] = True
-        ForwardRequestException.__init__(self, location)
-
-
 def load_app(config):
     '''
     Used to load a ``Pecan`` application and its environment based on passed
@@ -383,8 +348,6 @@ class Pecan(object):
         )
         if template == 'json':
             renderer = self.renderers.get('json', self.template_path)
-        else:
-            namespace['error_for'] = error_for
         if ':' in template:
             renderer = self.renderers.get(
                 template.split(':')[0],
diff --git a/pecan/deploy.py b/pecan/deploy.py
index 3559e99..08019f9 100644
--- a/pecan/deploy.py
+++ b/pecan/deploy.py
@@ -2,4 +2,8 @@ from core import load_app
 
 
 def deploy(config):
+    """
+    Given a config (dictionary of relative filename), returns a configured
+    WSGI app.
+    """
     return load_app(config)
diff --git a/pecan/templates/project/+package+/app.py_tmpl b/pecan/templates/project/+package+/app.py_tmpl
index 02b554f..2b2ec7e 100644
--- a/pecan/templates/project/+package+/app.py_tmpl
+++ b/pecan/templates/project/+package+/app.py_tmpl
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ def setup_app(config):
     return make_app(
         config.app.root,
         static_root     = config.app.static_root,
-        debug           = config.app.debug,
-        logging         = config.app.logging,
         template_path   = config.app.template_path,
-        force_canonical = config.app.force_canonical
+        debug           = getattr(config.app, 'debug', None),
+        logging         = getattr(config.app, 'logging', None),
+        force_canonical = getattr(config.app, 'force_canonical', None)
     )
diff --git a/pecan/templates/project/config.py_tmpl b/pecan/templates/project/config.py_tmpl
index 2aa3a65..081060b 100644
--- a/pecan/templates/project/config.py_tmpl
+++ b/pecan/templates/project/config.py_tmpl
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@ app = {
     'template_path'   : '%(confdir)s/${package}/templates',
     'reload'          : True,
     'debug'           : True,
-    'logging'         : False,
-    'force_canonical' : True,
     'errors'          : {
         '404'            : '/error/404',
         '__force_dict__' : True
diff --git a/pecan/tests/templates/error_for.html b/pecan/tests/templates/error_for.html
deleted file mode 100644
index fcd47b6..0000000
--- a/pecan/tests/templates/error_for.html
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-${error_for('colors-1')}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pecan/tests/test_conf.py b/pecan/tests/test_conf.py
index 3df8c8f..459bd02 100644
--- a/pecan/tests/test_conf.py
+++ b/pecan/tests/test_conf.py
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ class TestConf(TestCase):
             'test_config/config.py'
         )))
 
-        self.assertTrue(conf.app.debug)
         self.assertEqual(conf.app.root, None)
         self.assertEqual(conf.app.template_path, 'myproject/templates')
         self.assertEqual(conf.app.static_root, 'public')
@@ -41,7 +40,6 @@ class TestConf(TestCase):
             'test_config/empty.py'
         )))
 
-        self.assertFalse(conf.app.debug)
         self.assertEqual(conf.app.root, None)
         self.assertEqual(conf.app.template_path, '')
         self.assertEqual(conf.app.static_root, 'public')
@@ -58,7 +56,6 @@ class TestConf(TestCase):
             'test_config/forcedict.py'
         )))
 
-        self.assertFalse(conf.app.debug)
         self.assertEqual(conf.app.root, None)
         self.assertEqual(conf.app.template_path, '')
         self.assertEqual(conf.app.static_root, 'public')
@@ -99,7 +96,6 @@ class TestConf(TestCase):
             os.path.dirname(__file__), 'test_config', 'config.py'
         )
         conf = configuration.conf_from_file(path)
-        self.assertTrue(conf.app.debug)
 
     def test_config_illegal_ids(self):
         from pecan import configuration
@@ -197,9 +193,6 @@ class TestConf(TestCase):
         assert isinstance(as_dict, dict)
         assert as_dict['server']['host'] == '0.0.0.0'
         assert as_dict['server']['port'] == '8080'
-        assert as_dict['app']['debug'] == False
-        assert as_dict['app']['errors'] == {}
-        assert as_dict['app']['force_canonical'] == True
         assert as_dict['app']['modules'] == []
         assert as_dict['app']['root'] == None
         assert as_dict['app']['static_root'] == 'public'
@@ -217,9 +210,6 @@ class TestConf(TestCase):
         assert isinstance(as_dict, dict)
         assert as_dict['server']['host'] == '0.0.0.0'
         assert as_dict['server']['port'] == '8080'
-        assert as_dict['app']['debug'] == False
-        assert as_dict['app']['errors'] == {}
-        assert as_dict['app']['force_canonical'] == True
         assert as_dict['app']['modules'] == []
         assert as_dict['app']['root'] == None
         assert as_dict['app']['static_root'] == 'public'
@@ -238,9 +228,6 @@ class TestConf(TestCase):
         assert isinstance(as_dict, dict)
         assert as_dict['prefix_server']['prefix_host'] == '0.0.0.0'
         assert as_dict['prefix_server']['prefix_port'] == '8080'
-        assert as_dict['prefix_app']['prefix_debug'] == False
-        assert as_dict['prefix_app']['prefix_errors'] == {}
-        assert as_dict['prefix_app']['prefix_force_canonical'] == True
         assert as_dict['prefix_app']['prefix_modules'] == []
         assert as_dict['prefix_app']['prefix_root'] == None
         assert as_dict['prefix_app']['prefix_static_root'] == 'public'
diff --git a/pecan/tests/test_util.py b/pecan/tests/test_util.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 3294eec..0000000
--- a/pecan/tests/test_util.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-from pecan.util import compat_splitext
-
-
-def test_compat_splitext():
-    assert ('foo', '.bar') == compat_splitext('foo.bar')
-    assert ('/foo/bar', '.txt') == compat_splitext('/foo/bar.txt')
-    assert ('/foo/bar', '') == compat_splitext('/foo/bar')
-    assert ('.bashrc', '') == compat_splitext('.bashrc')
-    assert ('..bashrc', '') == compat_splitext('..bashrc')
-    assert ('/.bashrc', '') == compat_splitext('/.bashrc')
-    assert ('/foo.bar/.bashrc', '') == compat_splitext('/foo.bar/.bashrc')
-    assert ('/foo.js', '.js') == compat_splitext('/foo.js.js')
diff --git a/pecan/util.py b/pecan/util.py
index 7f29a91..697dec8 100644
--- a/pecan/util.py
+++ b/pecan/util.py
@@ -12,31 +12,6 @@ def _cfg(f):
     return f._pecan
 
 
-def compat_splitext(path):
-    """
-    This method emulates the behavior os.path.splitext introduced in python 2.6
-    """
-    basename = os.path.basename(path)
-
-    index = basename.rfind('.')
-    if index > 0:
-        root = basename[:index]
-        if root.count('.') != index:
-            return (
-                os.path.join(os.path.dirname(path), root),
-                basename[index:]
-            )
-
-    return (path, '')
-
-
-# use the builtin splitext unless we're python 2.5
-if sys.version_info >= (2, 6):
-    from os.path import splitext
-else:                             # pragma no cover
-    splitext = compat_splitext    # noqa
-
-
 if sys.version_info >= (2, 6, 5):
     def encode_if_needed(s):
         return s