Enabling CGI Script from Apache's htdocs directory

[monkfan]

Fellow monks,
I have a very simple cgi script like this:

#!/usr/bin/perl

print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
print "Hello World !! It works.\n";

which I stored in:

/usr/local/apache/htdocs/Test/cgi-bin

However I was unable to see it working from this website:

http://bioinfo-z.comp.nus.edu.sg/Test/cgi-bin/hello.cgi

However, my index.html can be accessed without problem here.

What was wrong with my setting above? Was there any special structure required for CGI?
As a SU I've also activated my Apache's

 svcadm enable www:apache22

[ww]

Slightly OT, but (further derby's comment), here's a side consideration for you, monkfan


The reason 1.x Apache versions conventionally put the cgi-bin in the directory above htdocs is for your protection. While not a v2.x user, I suspect this is still true, unless there's a new security mechanism.

If your cgi-bin(s) are in or below htdocs, the contents are accessible to those with evil intent... in many cases, even if you attempt to restrict access with the usual methods such as .htaccess. This is not a-good-thing if your scripts have sensitive content, as many (perhaps not yours, but many) do.

IMO, the usual "good" reason for creating a cgi-bin in user-space is when you don't have the necessary rights to put your scripts in the site's root (note: "site," not "server.")

[derby]

Normally cgi-bin is not within the htdocs directory. Can you copy your script to /usr/local/apache/cgi-bin? If so, will it run from there? It all depends on your apache configuration (/usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf).

[monkfan]

Hi,

I've copied my hello.cgi to this directory /usr/local/apache/cgi-bin. And it works, thanks.

But my intention is to really access the cgi-bin from my htdocs/ directory. Like this:

htdocs--
       |_Test
          |_cgi-bin/
       |
       |_Webap1
         |_ cgi-bin/
       |
       |_Webap2
         |_ cgi-bin/

Because there will be many webapps I need to build (hence many subdirectory other than "Test"). I've tried to modified the following httpd.conf entry:

#ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/usr/local/apache/cgi-bin/"

# into 
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/usr/local/apache/htdocs/cgi-bin/

But still unable to get it working. How can I enable it from this httpd.conf below?

Read more... (17 kB)

[derby]

Check out the howto.

update: I'm not a apache 2.2 expert by anymeans but I think you're going to want something like this in your httpd.conf:

<Directory /usr/local/apache/htdocs/*/cgi-bin>
  Options +ExecCGI
</Directory>

That being said ... I think one of the drawbacks to your approach is your exposing way too much of your underlying architecture. User's are going to see something like this:

http://bioinfo-z.comp.nus.edu.sg/Test/cgi-bin/foo
http://bioinfo-z.comp.nus.edu.sg/WebApp1/cgi-bin/bar
http://bioinfo-z.comp.nus.edu.sg/WebApp2/cgi-bin/baz

I think a better approach would be to either use virtual servers:

http://test.comp.nus.edu.sg/cgi-bin/foo
http://webapp1.comp.nus.edu.sg/cgi-bin/bar
http://webapp2.comp.nus.edu.sg/cgi-bin/baz

Or something like CGI::Application

http://bioinfo-z.comp.nus.edu.sg/cgi-bin/test?mode=foo
http://bioinfo-z.comp.nus.edu.sg/cgi-bin/webapp1?mode=bar
http://bioinfo-z.comp.nus.edu.sg/cgi-bin/webapp2?mode=baz

[shmem]

Because there will be many webapps I need to build (hence many subdirectory other than "Test"). I've tried to modified the following httpd.conf entry:

#ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/usr/local/apache/cgi-bin/"

# into 
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/usr/local/apache/htdocs/cgi-bin/

Note that there's the ending quote missing. But this modification would allow you to access scripts in /usr/local/apache/htdocs/cgi-bin/hello.cgi as

http://bioinfo-z.comp.nus.edu.sg/cgi-bin/hello.cgi

Try

ScriptAlias /Test/cgi-bin/   /usr/local/apache/htdocs/Test/cgi-bin/
ScriptAlias /Webap1/cgi-bin/ /usr/local/apache/htdocs/Webap1/cgi-bin/
ScriptAlias /Webap2/cgi-bin/ /usr/local/apache/htdocs/Webap2/cgi-bin/

inside your <IfModule alias_module></IfModule> block.

You could also omit the cgi-bin part

ScriptAlias /Test/   /usr/local/apache/htdocs/Test/cgi-bin/
ScriptAlias /Webap1/ /usr/local/apache/htdocs/Webap1/cgi-bin/
ScriptAlias /Webap2/ /usr/local/apache/htdocs/Webap2/cgi-bin/

to access e.g /usr/local/apache/htdocs/Webap1/cgi-bin/hello.cgi as

http://bioinfo-z.comp.nus.edu.sg/Webap1/hello.cgi

[MonkE]

In your httpd.conf shouldn't that be:

ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/usr/local/apache/htdocs/Test/cgi-bin/

That's where you're putting your CGI script afterall isn't it?

[gloryhack]

For some reason the domain you reference won't resolve for me right now so I can't answer my first question, which I'll present to you: What do you mean by "unable to see it working"? What is the failure indication?

If, as I suspect, the failure indication is what appears to be an empty web page but no errors logged by Apache, it's possibly because your content-type is text/html but there's no HTML in your output. Try changing the content-type to text/plain and see what happens.

If that's not it, what's the failure indication?