hello,
I am using Netscape Enterprise Server 3.5.1 (Windows
NT) on an NT workstation, and I'm having trouble
configuring it for perl and cgi. I have the latest
build of perl from Activestate (version 5.6.0, build
623). Scripts are working at the command prompt, but
not through the browser. I'm getting server errors.
I have sifted through faq's, Netscape's online
documentation, and this list's archives to hone down
my problem. Now I'm just confused about the details.
Please take a look and see if I'm missing something
here. This is a long message but it includes a lot of
straight facts about my NT and server settings.
As far as I can tell, the entire server is configured
for cgi.
In the web-based server administration utility, there
is a setting called �CGI as a file type� which
�activates CGI as a file type� for the �entire
server�. [I don�t know which lines in the obj.conf
file pertain to this particular setting.]
When I try to run a file from the configured "CGI
Directory" (which is by the way below the main site's
root; meaning, it's among the site's files at
resources/lib/web), from the browser window, I get
this kind of error in my server's error logs:
failure: for host 55.5.55.555 trying to GET
/resources/lib/web/calendar.pl, send-cgi reports:
could not send new process (File Not Found Error)
The file was there. I tried renaming the file to
calendar.cgi and got the same error.
I also enabled a shell-CGI directory for the server, a
folder called "shellCGI" which is placed at the same
level as the site's main document folder (root of the
site), with a path set up so that when I type
"www.myserver/shellCGI/myperl.pl" in the browser
window, it's mapped to the shellCGI folder.
When I run a script from that folder at the cmd
prompt, I get the output I want. When I try to run it
from the browser window, I get this kind of error in
the server's error log:
failure: for host 55.5.55.555 trying to GET
/shellCGI/calendar.pl, cgi-parse-output reports: the
CGI program D:\Perl\bin\Perl.exe did not produce a
valid header (program terminated without a valid CGI
header (check for core dump or other abnormal
termination)
I found older posts with people getting this latter
error message but no one solved the problem publicly.
Ultimately, I am trying to get Matt Kruse's calendar
script to work, but I get the same error using this
example script (example.pl):
print "Content-Type text/html\n\n";
$|=1;
print "Hello from ActivePerl!";
This script doesn't work through the browser in the
shell-CGI or CGI-directories, nor do several
variations of the script. Namely, I tried:
-Having a first shebang-type path line even though I'm
not using switches so it shouldn't matter with the NT
(am I wrong in my thinking?)
#!/perl/bin/ <--[If it does make a difference, is
this what the path should be if the path to perl.exe
is d:\Perl\bin\perl.exe and the path to this script is
d:\Program
Files\Netscape\SuiteSpot\shellCGI\example.pl ?]
-Trying use CGI::Carp qw(fatalsToBrowser); at least
two lines below the content-type line
-Trying print "Content-Type: text/html\r\n\r\n";
(added the \r�s)
-Trying print "Content-type: text/html\n\n"; (small
"t" in "type")
-Trying print "Content_type: text/html\n\n";
(underscore)
By the way I don't know where I'm supposed to see the
errors by using the $|=1 line or the use CGI::Carp
line. All I see in the browser is the server error
messages (in both Netscape and IE). When I run the
scripts at the cmd prompt I seem to be getting the
expected output.
(For example, with the calendar script I directed the
output of the script to a file called calendar.txt at
the cmd prompt and looked at calendar.txt through the
browser--the calendar is there, and the additional
scripts try to work from there...So I know i'm getting
output that's at least part of what I want).
Finally, here are some settings that might be helpful
to know.
REGISTRY:
MyComputer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.cgi --is--
"cgi_auto_file"
MyComputer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\cgi_auto_file\shell\open\command
--is-- "d:\Program
Files\Netscape\SuiteSpot\install\perl.exe %1"
(This last one WAS "C:\WINNT\System32\NOTEPAD.EXE %1"
and I changed it to the above since all perl scripts
on the web were opening with notepad and some Netscape
documentation at
http://help.netscape.com/kb/corporate/19971210-1.html
suggested the change.)
That particular perl.exe file in the "install" folder
is a copy of the one in D:\perl\bin\ .... I don't get
it. SHould this be set up this way?
MIME.TYPES file for the server:
There are these lines:
type=application/octet-stream exts=bin,exe
type=application/x-perl exts=pl
type=magnus-internal/cgi exts=cgi,bat
[I moved the "exe" from the last line to the first one
upon the suggestion of Netscape documentation at the
URL
http://help.netscape.com/kb/corporate/19960513-100.html]
OBJ.CONF file for the server:
There are these lines:
Init fn="init-cgi"
LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/Perl/lib;/Perl/site/lib"
NameTrans fn="pfx2dir" from="/shellCGI"
dir="d:/PROGRA~1/Netscape/SUITES~1/shellCGI"
name="shellcgi"
NameTrans fn="pfx2dir" from="/cgi-bin"
dir="d:/PROGRA~1/Netscape/SUITES~1/cgi-bin" name="cgi"
Service fn="send-cgi" type="magnus-internal/cgi"
Service fn="send-shellcgi" type="magnus-internal/cgi"
<Object name="cgi">
ObjectType fn="force-type" type="magnus-internal/cgi"
Service fn="send-cgi"
</Object>
<Object name="shellcgi">
ObjectType fn="force-type"
type="magnus-internal/shellcgi"
Service fn="send-shellcgi"
</Object>
I thought that in this NT environment I could put perl
and cgi scripts anywhere, not just in a designated
directory like a �shell-CGI� folder or a �cgi-bin.�
So while I�ve been trying to implement these I�m
confused as to why it�s necessary. Is it that the NT
box can run the files as long as I�ve associated the
file extensions .pl and .cgi with the application
perl.exe�-but that the _server_ needs the designated
directories?
Thank you for any help you can give me. I've tried to
solve this problem myself, but now I could really use
another pair of eyes. Or lots of them. :)
yelena
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