Introduction to CGI
CGI (Common Gateway Interface) is a standard for running
external programs from a Web server. CGI allows the
returned HTML page to be dynamic - for example, with
a CGI script you could access information in a database
and format the results as part of an HTML page. Not
surprisingly, CGI scripts are very popular and used
extensively throughout the World Wide Web.
There are a number of very good introduction to CGI
documents available on the Web. The information given
below is a summary of the most important points to remember
when using CGI. Please refer to the following for a
more in-depth introduction:
Key points to bear in mind when using CGI scripts:
-
The pre installed scripts available through CPanel
are the easiest to use, but if a certain script
does not do exactly what you want, feel free to
look for better scripts on the Web. You can usually
find a script to do almost anything, especially
if you are prepared to pay.
-
Read all available documentation on a particular
script before using it. This will help avoid most
problems.
-
CHMOD ("Change Mode") means change the permissions
on a particular file (usually the script itself).
The CPanel File Manager allows you to quickly do
this, as do most FTP tools.
-
Important - after uploading cgi-bin
scripts, CHMOD to 755
(unless the script documentation specifically states
otherwise). For example, you need to CHMOD the pre-installed
CPanel CGI EMail scripts
to 755 to use them properly.
-
Many scripts need to know the path to Perl (scripting
language engine) and to sendmail (HTTP mail engine).
You can find this information on the front page
of CPanel.
-
Make sure you test your scripts repeatedly! Testing
is vital to make sure everything is working to your
satisfaction.
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