title: Using Python Pylons, what is a good way to use an authentication cookie throughout an application?
body: <p>I'm using Python + Pylons to authenticate a user, and am then sending a unique md5 sum and storing it as a cookie to verify the user at every page load. Where in my application is the best place to put the cookie handling functions so that they are accessible throughout my application? Should I declare a global variable such as, USER, that would be accessible throughout the application storing important values like first name, last name, etc ... of the logged in user? Thanks.</p>