Still lookin' and needin' help

[South]

Sorry to keep posting this all over the forums, but I'm really stuck. I've gotten a few answers but none panned out.

The servers I am using ( a reseller account with Matrix but I really only use it for my clients sites) will not let me run perl programs if any part of the script has a .pl extension. It won't even ackowlege the script. If I make no changes other than changing all .pl files to .cgi, the program starts working. This isn't practical with larger scripts as all referring language within the script must be changed or it's broken.

Matrix support said it might be a MIME issue. I honestly am brand new at dealing with the server end of things other than calling support and complaining. Can someone tell me in "special ed" language what this might be and how to correct it?

Thanks very much.

[QT_]

The web server doesn't know to treat .pl files as CGI scripts, so you need to tell it to do so. If you're running Apache, you can do this with AddHandler. The following should already exist in your httpd.conf:

AddHandler cgi-script .cgi

You can just add .pl to the end:

AddHandler cgi-script .cgi .pl

Then restart Apache.

[South]

Qt, I knew you would be my salvation!

I do run Apache. Can you tell me how to do this from whm? Remember, s-p-e-a-k v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. Don't assume I know anything.

[QT_]

Erk...I have no clue how to do it from WHM.

It's quite simple to do it through SSH (here's the howto step-by-step if you feel comfortable in doing it this way)

1. SSH into your server.
2. Type the following:

# su -
<enter root password>
# vi /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf

Find the following line:

AddHandler cgi-script .cgi

Once you find that line, type "A" (make sure it's a capital A) and add the .pl to the end of that line so it looks like this:

AddHandler cgi-script .cgi .pl

Once you've added that to the end of that line, hit your ESC key and type this:

:wq

Then restart Apache:

# /usr/local/apache/bin/apachectl restart

Voila!

[South]

Man I hate having to post things here that make me look stupid....here we go.

I don't know how to SSH. I don't even know what it means.

I may be able to use the info you gave me to find a way to do it from inside whm. Thanks, and sorry for the ignorance.

[QT_]

Posting your questions doesn't make you (or anyone else who has questions) look stupid. It's the only way you're going to learn. If you don't ask, you'll never know, right? Once you learn how to SSH into your server and learn how to do things by the command line, you'll see just how easy it is and you'll be doing it all the time.

You can get a free ssh client (PuTTY) at:

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

Once you have it installed:

1. Open PuTTY.

2. Connect to your server:

# ssh username@IPAddressHere

Log in as your Primary User, enter your password when prompted for a password.

3. Once you are logged in, you should see this:

[username@hostname username] $

4. Su to root:

# su -

Type in the root password when prompted for a password.

5. If you su'ed successfully, your prompt should look like this now:

[root@hostname root] #

Then you type:

# vi /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf

Find the line that I mentioned above and follow the steps in my previous post from there.

Anytime you have a question about what you're doing with your server or how to do something with it, you can ask me anytime and I'll be more than happy to help you. You can also shoot me a quick PM and I'll send you my e-mail address so you can ask me through there as well (since I'm not around here as much as I'd like to be).

[I, Brian]

I'll second that about learning.

Still, sounds like you've jumped quite in the deep end - at least if you swim you'll be laughing.

[server-admin]

You sure your going to be able to make the changes to the httpd.conf as a re-seller ?