How to run cgi script on apache server

Question

This is my program:

[root@localhost cgi-bin]# locate first.pl 
/home/Ram/Desktop/work/first.pl
/usr/local/apache2/cgi-bin/first.pl
[root@localhost cgi-bin]# cd /usr/local/apache2/cgi-bin/
[root@localhost cgi-bin]# vi first.pl 
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use warnings;
use warnings;
use CGI;
print "content-type: text/html\n\n";
print "<h2>Hello, World!</h2>\n";

I am calling the script from my browser like this:

http://localhost/usr/local/apache2/cgi-bin/first.pl

I didn't get output, but I'm getting an error:

Not Found

The requested URL /usr/local/apache2/cgi-bin/first.pl was not found on this server.

Apache/2.2.15 (CentOS) Server at localhost Port 80

I checked in web browser whether the Apache web server is working or not by using :

https://localhost

It us showing the welcome page.

How do I resolve this error?

Answer 1

You basically need to change two files after installing apache2 on linux.

Go to terminal and set the following configs:

1. sudo vim /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default.conf and add the follwing:

   <Files ~ "\.(pl|cgi)$">
       SetHandler perl-script
       PerlResponseHandler ModPerl::PerlRun
       Options +ExecCGI
       PerlSendHeader On
   </Files>
   

2. sudo vim /etc/apache2/apache2.conf and add the following:

   <Directory /var/www/cgi-bin/> AddHandler cgi-script .cgi .pl Options FollowSymLinks ExecCGI AllowOverride None </Directory>

After adding these two config changes, write a perl script, place it in the cgi-bin directory, and then give it sufficient privileges (sudo chmod 755 <filename>)

Finally, restart apache2: sudo apache2ctl restart

Screenshots:

Answer 2

Yes, the above process works but the easy way is:

1. Enable the CGI- sudo a2enmod cgi
2. Restart the Apache and it works -service apache2 restart
3. Run the cgi file http://localhost/cgi-bin/1.sh

Best Of Luck !!

Answer 3

In your web configuration (httpd.conf or your virtual host configuration file) you should have the following fragment:

ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /etc/local/apache2/cgi-bin/
<Directory "/etc/local/apache2/cgi-bin">
   Options ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
</Directory>

restart the server, don't forget to chmod +x /usr/local/apache2/cgi-bin/first.pl and then load http://localhost/cgi-bin/first.pl

This assumes that either there are no virtual hosts in your config, or that the virtual host you configured is the default one. See the apache docs if needed.