Apache2, perl, and Ubunt 13.10

**Roberto.Lionello** · October 29th, 2013

Hi,

I have installed Ubuntu 13.10 on my new laptop. I would like to run on localhost a web site that has perl scripts. I have installed libapache2-mod-perl2, assuming it was necessary. The files of the website are in /var/www. When I go to localhost, the initial screen shows up correctly. However, whenever I try to load a perl script, the text appears in the browser and the script is not executed. What do I have to do to make the web site working? Thanks!

**Lars Noodén** · October 29th, 2013

Where did you get the scripts? There should be some instruction about where to place them.

In order to run CGI, the module cgi must be activated.

Code:

sudo a2enmod cgi
sudo service apache2 restart

The default location for CGI scripts in Apache2 is /usr/lib/cgi-bin/ but that is almost always changed when actually writing CGI scripts. Your vhost should point to the location and make the appropriate settings. e.g.

Code:

ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/
<Directory "/usr/lib/cgi-bin">
                        AllowOverride None
                        Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
                        Require all granted
</Directory>

That will make a script, such as /usr/lib/cgi-bin/x.pl, available via the local host, such as http://127.0.0.1/cgi-bin/x.pl Note the ScriptAlias and Directory directives and how they work.

For the script to run, it has to be executable (mode 555, 755, or 775) and of course can't contain errors.

You might want to put http://localhost/cgi-bin/ behind a password or block outside access with the firewall while getting things set up.

**Roberto.Lionello** · October 29th, 2013

First of all, many thanks! By following your instructions I was able to make it work. I downloaded the perl scripts using

svn checkout http://divinum-officium.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ divinum-officium-read-only

to make a standalone version of http://divinumofficium.com on my laptop, to use when an Internet connection is not available.

I put all in /var/www and made the following symbolic links in /usr/lib/cgi-bin

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 Oct 28 12:31 horas -> /var/www/cgi-bin/horas//
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 Oct 28 12:31 missa -> /var/www/cgi-bin/missa//

It works perfectly!