Re: user cgi-bin configuration

[Fredric Fredricson <fredric.fredriksson@example.com>]

A lot of people mentioned suexec but I don't think anybody 
pointed out clearly that suexec is probably what stops
apache from running your CGIs.

The easiest fix: Rename /usr/sbin/suexec to
/usr/sbin/suexec.NONO or something. This way apache will
not find the binary and will not attempt to use it.

Two big BUT:
* You just lowered your guard against security attacks.
* Apache will execute your CGIs as user nobody or whatever
  user it is set up to run as.

A better fix (that I never bothered with):
Learn and love suexec. RTFM.

Also: On some systems /etc/rc.d/init.d/httpd is called
/etc/rc.d/init.d/apache. Also it might not take a restart
parameter. It will always accept "stop" and "start", though.

You must also execute the init script as "root".

Hint:
Use tail -f /var/log/httpd.error_log to see error messages
in "real time". Extremely useful when you hack the conf
files (unless you never make mistakes ;-) and even more
useful for debugging CGIs.
(Btw /var/log/httpd.error_log is for Suse. Check the apache
conf files to find exact location)

And finally an observation:
Like most other open source documentation the Apache
does not really help the novice user (been there, 
never left). The comments in the configuration files 
will get you quite far, though.

Have fun.
/Fredric