CGI Scripts

technicare · **CGI Scripts -** 03-31-2003, 02:38 PM

I am new to CGI programming - so please be patient. I have uploaded a test.cgi script to my cgi-bin and set the necessary permissions (7-5-5). When I call the script, I get the message,

Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@technicareservices.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

Can someone tell me what I may be doing wrong?

stratplan · **some things to check: -** 03-31-2003, 03:10 PM

The most common reasons CGI scripts don't work the first time are:

1) wrong header info - first line.
2) not uploaded in ascii format
3) incorrect call to run program
and
4)wrong permissions

Big Nose Bird

This is a great place for scripts and especially a tutorial for CGI.

Good luck - keep trying, and check every little thing. You've done well with the permissions!

technicare · 03-31-2003, 03:49 PM

Thanks Strat - I simplified my script and I believe that I had some erroneous HTML code.

Side note: I noticed through many of the posts here that some users post web pages to /www/... and others post to /public_html/... Are these two directories actually mirrors of one another? It seems that if you make changes in one directory, this change occurs in the other (such as uploading files, etc... ) Does it matter which one you publish web pages to, upload CGI scripts, etc... Looking for a sanity check.

midwest · 05-21-2003, 04:42 PM

In cpanel you have an error log, use it. you can also run your script from the command line. SSH into your server and cd to where the sript is. "perl myscript.cgi" will return output. Use a trap sub routine as you move along your script to check outputs.
use -w scitch(perl -w myscript.cgi from the command line) this will help catch typos which can drive you nutz in perl.
oh yea, dont name a script "test"
$thistoo = blah,blah;
$whatisthis = blah,blah;

&trap_errors($whatisthis, error is:$!, $thistoo);

sub trap_errors()
{
local($status,$error,$message)=@_;
print "Content-type: text/html" , "\n\n";
print "<html><body>";
print "Status<p>";
print "$error<br>";
print "$message";
print "</body></html>";
}