Use a cgi-bin directory

A cgi-bin/ directory can be used to enable support for legacy CGI scripts.

When you enable a cgi-bin/ directory, any executable script or program in the directory can be requested. Any script or program that outputs a valid HTTP response including headers can be used as a CGI script.

Enable cgi-bin for an app

To enable a cgi-bin/ directory for an app, SSH into your server as root and create the following file (replace APPNAME with the name of the app):

/etc/apache-sp/vhosts.d/APPNAME.d/cgi-bin.conf

In the file, add the following contents (do not replace any values shown):

Define CGI_BIN ${DOCUMENT_ROOT}/../cgi-bin/
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ ${CGI_BIN}
<Directory ${CGI_BIN}>
    Require all granted
</Directory>

Restart Apache to apply the configuration changes.

sudo service apache-sp restart

Create the `cgi-bin` directory

Log out of your server as root and SSH back in as the app’s system user.

Create the app’s cgi-bin directory.

mkdir ~/apps/APPNAME/cgi-bin
chmod 755 ~/apps/APPNAME/cgi-bin

Test the `cgi-bin` directory

You can test the cgi-bin directory by creating a simple CGI script.

Create the file:

apps/APPNAME/cgi-bin/test.sh

with the contents:

#!/bin/bash
echo "Content-type: text/html"
echo
echo "Hello, World!"

and make the script executable:

chmod 755 ~/apps/APPNAME/cgi-bin/test.sh

You can now request the script at http://DOMAIN/cgi-bin/test.sh using your browser.

Debugging “Internal Server Error” for CGI scripts

The most common error is to forget to set the correct permissions on a script in the cgi-bin/ directory. Scripts in the cgi-bin/ directory must be set to executable using the command:

chmod 755 ~/apps/APPNAME/cgi-bin/SCRIPT_NAME

If you encounter “Internal Server Error” when making HTTP requests for your CGI scripts, these are the log files you should check for more information about the error:

Apache suEXEC log:

/var/log/apache-sp/suexec.log

Apache service error log:

/var/log/apache-sp/error.log

The app’s Apache request error log:

/srv/users/SYSUSER/log/APPNAME/APPNAME_apache.error.log