what is a smart server?

[Viktor Nagy]

Hello,

I am evaluating bazaar for a project, and the docs seem to me a bit
contradictory on the definition of a smart server. From the user guide
section 7.2 I had the feeling that everything is called a smart server
that uses the bzr | bzr+ssh protocol.

Moreover, I thought that this is a standalone server, so I won't need
apache for it. I've had this feeling as according to that description
the server by default works on port 4155

But then I get to section 10, where is speaks about setting up the
smart server with fastcgi/mod_python. Here the solution is clearly
independent of the port (actually it can handle any port apache deals
with), it uses the bzr+http protocol, moreover I see no reason why to
run "bzr serve" in the background if every request is processed
through apache and further processed locally in the wsgi handler.

Are these two different things? If not then wha tis bzr serve for? If
yes, then which one is the preferred way for a dedicated bzr server?

my guess is that they are different solutions, and bzr serve gives
better performance, but correct me if I'm wrong

if my guess is correct I would like to know as well if it's possible
to do some kind of authentication in a "bzr serve" server. I've read
about the server_started hook, but I would like to be confirmed that
this can be used for authentication.

I hope these questions will help some other people as well!

cheers,
Viktor