Actually the default user now tends to be 'apache' but of course the logic is correct. $! will reveal the error if it fails (usually Permission Denied).
#!/usr/bin/perl
my $file = '/path/to/some/file';
open FILE, ">$file" or die_nice( "Could not open $file, Reason $!\n" )
+;
print FILE "Woo-hoo!";
close FILE;
print header(), "<h2>Wrote $file OK</h2>";
sub die_nice( print header(), shift; exit }
sub header { return "Content-type: text/html\n\n" }
cheers
tachyon
s&&rsenoyhcatreve&&&s&n.+t&"$'$`$\"$\&"&ee&&y&srve&&d&&print