Seanic.Net
provides CGI for all web hosting accounts.
CGI-bin
Applications
Where to Put CGI-bin Scripts
Paths to Date, Mail, Perl, etc.
Troubleshooting CGI-bin Problems
CGI-bin
Applications
CGI stands for "Common Gateway Interface,"
a fancy name meaning computer programs running on the
web server that can be invoked from a web page at the
browser. The "bin" part alludes to the binary
executables that result from compiled or assembled programs.
It is a bit misleading because cgi's can also be Unix
shell scripts or interpreted languages like Perl.
Note: CGI scripts need to be uploaded
in ASCII or text format. This is very important or your
script may not work.
If you are not already familiar with CGI scripting,
you may want to read on the subject or find information
on the Internet about CGI scripting. There are many
good resources for CGI scripts found on the web. Basic
scripts can be found at Matt's Script Archive; http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/
. You'll find many scripts free of charge and with detailed
configuration information. Another excellent resource
is The CGI Resource Index found at http://www.cgi-perl.com/
-- if you are not an expert, look for scripts that are
very well documented and come with step-by-step instructions.
Where
to Put CGI-bin Scripts
You can put your cgi-scripts anywhere throughout your
server. We would suggest creating a cgi-bin folder
and putting them in there.
Paths
to Date, Mail, Perl, etc.
Here are your paths to the common server resources that
CGI scripts often require:
Sendmail: /usr/sbin/sendmail
Perl5: /usr/bin/perl
Tcl
: /usr/bin/tclsh
Date: /bin/date
CGI path: "/users/web/<yourlogin>/web/cgi-bin".
Note: this path is seen as "/cgi-bin"
via ftp.
Root web path: "/users/web/<yourlogin>/web"
(your root web directory of your account)
Troubleshooting
CGI-bin Problems
Below are solutions to some of the more common CGI script
problems, in question and answer format. You will find
a list of proper permission settings for the scripts
we provide at the end.
Q) When I activate my CGI program,
I get back a page that says "Internal Server Error.
The server encountered an internal error or mis-configuration
and was unable to complete your request."
A) This is generally caused by a problem within the
script or file permission errors. To locate the problem,
you will want to look at the error
log and the execution log
for your website.
As a general guideline, you may test to see if your
script by logging in via SSH/Telnet and test your script
in local mode to get a better idea of what the problem
is. To do this, go into the directory in which your
script is located, then execute the script. To execute
the script, you can do it by
typing "./myscript.pl" (replace myscript.pl
with the name of your script file). If the script executes,
that means that the first line of the script refers
to the correct script interpreter path (eg. /usr/bin/perl).
This is useful to see if there's any error IN your script
and is also useful to test if your "calling line"
(the first line of the script) is okay, i.e. if you
entered the right location of Perl.
Q) I am being told "File
Not Found," or "No Such File or Directory."
A) Upload your Perl or CGI script in ASCII mode using
FTP, not binary mode.
Q) When I test my Perl script
in local mode (by Telnet), I have the following error:
"Literal @domain now requires a back slash at myscript.pl
line 3, within string. Execution of myscript.pl aborted
due to compilation errors."
A)
This is caused by a misinterpretation by Perl. You see,
the "@" sign has a special meaning in Perl;
it identifies an array (a table of elements). Since
it cannot find the array named domain, it generates
an error. You should place a back slash (\) before the
"@" (eg. "\@") symbol to tell Perl
to see it as a regular symbol, as in an email address.
Q)
I am getting the message "POST not implemented."
A) A possibility is that you are pointing to a cgi-bin
script that you have not put in your cgi-bin directory.
In general, this message really means that the web server
is not recognizing the cgi-bin script you are calling
as a program. The webserver only recognises the file
as a regular text file. If you would like to place CGI
files outside the cgi-bin directory, the CGI script
files needs to have the .cgi extension.
Q) It's saying permission denied.
A) This error message means your CGI script file permission
is not set correctly. To set the file permissions using
FTP, please see Setting Permissions.
