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(05) Use CGI Scripts

Use CGI (Common Gateway Interface) Scripts.

  1. Enable CGI module.
root@www:~# a2enmod cgid

Enabling module cgid.
To activate the new configuration, you need to run:
  systemctl restart apache2

root@www:~# systemctl restart apache2
  1. After enabling CGI, CGI scripts are allowed to execute under [/usr/lib/cgi-bin] directory by default. Therefore, for example, if a Perl script [index.cgi] is put under the directory, it's possible to access to the URL [http://(Apache2 Server)/cgi-bin/index.cgi] from Clients.
 # create a test script

root@www:~# cat > /usr/lib/cgi-bin/test_script <<'EOF'
#!/usr/bin/perl
print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
print "Hello CGI\n";
EOF
root@www:~# chmod 705 /usr/lib/cgi-bin/test_script
# try to access

root@www:~# curl localhost/cgi-bin/test_script

Hello CGI
  1. If you'd like to allow CGI in other directories except default, configure like follows. For example, allow in [/var/www/html/cgi-enabled].
root@www:~# vi /etc/apache2/conf-available/cgi-enabled.conf
# create new
# specify extension that are processed as CGI on [AddHandler cgi-script] line

<Directory "/var/www/html/cgi-enabled">
    Options +ExecCGI
    AddHandler cgi-script .cgi .pl .py .rb
</Directory>

root@www:~# mkdir /var/www/html/cgi-enabled

root@www:~# a2enconf cgi-enabled

Enabling conf cgi-enabled.
To activate the new configuration, you need to run:
  systemctl reload apache2

root@www:~# systemctl reload apache2
  1. Create a CGI test page and access to it from any client computer with web browser.
root@www:~# vi /var/www/html/cgi-enabled/index.cgi

#!/usr/bin/python3

print("Content-type: text/html\n")
print("<html>\n<body>")
print("<div style=\"width: 100%; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;\">")
print("CGI Script Test Page")
print("</div>")
print("</body>\n</html>")

root@www:~# chmod 755 /var/www/html/cgi-enabled/index.cgi

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