Running a shell script via CGI-BIN

chrisk5527 · 05-09-2003, 06:34 AM

Could someone give me directions on how to execute a shell script with Apache by clicking a button?

mhearn · 05-09-2003, 07:01 AM

That's a really bad idea. Shell scripts are ridiculously hard to make secure due to arcane quoting rules etc, you're better off using Perl for that, in which case there are lots of tutorials, FAQs etc on the net and the apache website.

chrisk5527 · 05-09-2003, 07:07 AM

Im inside of one of the most secure networks Ive ever seen, I honestly dont care how unsecure it is. So, how do you run a shell script with Apache by clicking a button. I just want directions, not criticism.

mhearn · 05-09-2003, 11:44 AM

You do it for bash the same way you'd do it for Perl - CGI is language neutral.

There are docs on httpd.apache.org for that. Basically:

create a standard script with the #! (shebang) line at the top.
make it +x
Add a cgi handler directive to the config file for the directory the file is in
Enable the CGI option in the config file (docs tell you how to do this)
In your web page put a form with the method attribute set to the path of the script on the webserver