We cannot offer technical support for scripts that we do not provide. So if you are not already familiar with CGI scripting, you may want to read a book on the subject or find places on the Internet with CGI scripting information. There are many good resources for CGI scripts found on the web.

You should consult the party that original provided your script for assistance or visit:

Other helpful cgi resources on the web can be found at:
http://www.cgi-resources.com
http://www.perl.com/CPAN-local/doc/FAQs/cgi/idiots-guide.html
http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/cgi/overview.html
http://www.cgi-perl.com

Below are solutions to some of the more common CGI script problems, in question and answer format.

When I activate my CGI program, I get back a page that says "Internal Server Error. The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request."

This is generally caused by a problem within the script. Log in via Telnet and test your script in local mode to get a better idea of what the problem is. To do this, go into the directory in which your script is located, then execute the script. To execute the script, you can do it by two ways:

1) Type "perl myscript.pl" (Perl being the language interpreter in this case).
2) Or simply type "myscript.pl" alone, that will work if the first line is well written to indicate the location of Perl.
The first one is useful to see if there's any error IN your script. The second one is useful to test if your "calling line" (the first line of the script) is okay, i.e. if you entered the right location of Perl.

Cgi-bin scripts and executables must have the proper permissions or an internal server error will occur. The directory (and all the cgi's within it) must NOT be world writable. This is the most common error.

See http://www.apache.org/docs-1.2/suexec.html for more details.

I am being told "File Not Found," or "No Such File or Directory."

Upload your Perl or CGI script in ASCII mode, not binary mode.

When I test my Perl script in local mode (by Telnet), I have the following error: "Literal @domain now requires backslash at myscript.pl line 3, within string. Execution of myscript.pl aborted due to compilation errors."

This is caused by a misinterpretation by Perl. You see, the "@" sign has a special meaning in Perl; it identifies an array (a table of elements). Since it cannot find the array named domain, it generates an error. You should place a backslash (\) before the "@" symbol to tell Perl to see it as a regular symbol, as in an email address.

I am getting the message "POST not implemented."

You are probably using the wrong reference for cgiemail. Use the reference /cgi-bin/cgiemail/mail.txt. Another possibility is that you are pointing to a cgi-bin script that you have not put in your cgi-bin directory. In general, this message really means that the web server is not recognizing the cgi-bin script you are calling as a program. It thinks it is a regular text file.

It's saying I don't have permission to access / (1)

This error message means that you are missing your index.htm file. Note that files that start with a "." are hidden files. To see them, type ls -al. If you wish to FTP this file in, go to the home/[[yourdomain]] directory.

It's saying I don't have permission to access/ (2)

Your cgi-script is probably set as world writable. Our cgi scecurity mechanism prevents execution of such cgi-scripts. To ensure that the permssion setting for your cgi-script is correct issue following command.

"chmod 755 yourcgiscript " in the directory where your cgi-script is located.

Also the directory in which your script is located must be set to same permission setting. Use same method as described just above.

.htaccess Modifications

We do not offer support for .htaccess modifications. The following examples will work on our systems and we offer them as a guide for our customers. Complete documentation can be viewed at

http://www.apache.org/docs/mod/mod_rewrite.html and http://www.engelschall.com/pw/apache/rewriteguide

WARNING FOR FRONTPAGE USERS: Any modifications to your .htaccess file may result in the corruption of your extensions and as a result may make your site inaccessible. One should create a backup copy of your .htaccess file before any changes are made to the .htaccess file

The .htaccess file is a document created in ASCII text that can be placed in any directory in your account. The file can be used to customize some some server operations in your account and control access to specific files and directories. One can create an .htaccess file can using any word processor application but must be saved in text only format. Once the .htaccess file is created it must be uploaded to your account using an FTP application in ASCII mode. For the examples provided below, please place the .htaccess file in your www directory.

Custom Error Messages

Add the following to the .htaccess file:

ErrorDocument 404 /notfound.html

After "ErrorDocument" specify the error code, followed by a space, and then the path and filename of the .html file you would like to be displayed when the specified error is generated.

Denying User Access

Add the following to the .htaccess file:

<Limit GET>
order allow,deny
deny from 128.23.45.
deny from 207.158.255.213
allow from all
</Limit>
This is an example of a .htaccess file that will block access to your site to anyone who is coming from any IP address beginning with 128.23.45 and from the specific IP address 207.158.255.213 . By specifying only part of an IP address, and ending the partial IP address with a period, all sub-addresses coming from the specified IP address block will be blocked. You must use the IP addresses to block access, use of domain names is not supported.

Redirect a Machine Name

Add the following to the .htaccess file:

RewriteEngine On
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteBase /
# Rewrite Rule for machine.domain-name.net
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} machine.domain-name.net$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !machine/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ machine/$1

This will redirect requests for the machine name machine.domain-name.net to the directory machine on the site domain-name.net.

Different Default Home Page

Add the following to the .htaccess file:

DirectoryIndex filename.html

Then a request for http://domain-name.net/ would return http://domain-name.net/filename.html if it exists, or would list the directory if it did not exist.

To automatically run a cgi script, add the following to the .htaccess file:

DirectoryIndex /cgi-local/index.pl

This would cause the CGI script /cgi-bin/index.pl to be executed.

If you place your .htaccess file containing the DirectoryIndex specification in the root directory of your site, it will apply for all sub-directories at your site.
v Preventing People from Linking to Your Images

Add the following to the .htaccess file:

# Rewrite Rule for images

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER}