mwerner92 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

So I'm using CentOS 6.7 and trying to set up a form. I can access the html using my browser, but once I input the information, the output gives me the internal server error. I've been looking for hours and can't find it. The only thing my error log says is this: 

 
[Fri Oct 16 18:31:35 2015] [error] [client ::1] File does not exist: /
+var/www/html/favicon.ico
[Fri Oct 16 18:31:36 2015] [error] [client ::1] (2)No such file or dir
+ectory: exec of '/var/www/cgi-bin/form.pl' failed, referer: http://lo
+calhost/form.html
[Fri Oct 16 18:31:36 2015] [error] [client ::1] Premature end of scrip
+t headers: form.pl, referer: http://localhost/form.html
[Fri Oct 16 18:31:44 2015] [error] [client ::1] (2)No such file or dir
+ectory: exec of '/var/www/cgi-bin/form.pl' failed, referer: http://lo
+calhost/form.html
[Fri Oct 16 18:31:44 2015] [error] [client ::1] Premature end of scrip
+t headers: form.pl, referer: http://localhost/form.html

[download]

My code for the html is as follows: 
<html>
<head>
<title> Form Page Example </title>
</head>
<body background="light_blue_wallpaper.jpg">
<h1> Welcome! </h1>

<form action=cgi-bin/form.pl method="get">

Name: <input type="text" name="user" size=40><p>
Age: <input type="text" name="age" size=2 maxlength=3><p>
Favorite Scripting Language: <br>
<input type="radio" name="language" value="Bash">Bash<br>
<input type="radio" name="language" value="Perl">Perl<br>
<input type="radio" name="language" value="PHP">PHP<br>
<input type="radio" name="language" value="Python">Python<br>
<p>
<input type="submit" value="Submit form">
<input type="reset" value="Clear all fields">
</form>

All information submitted is confidental!
</body>
</html>

[download]

And my cgi script is as follows:

#!/user/bin/perl
require("cgi-lib.pl");

&ReadParse(*input);

print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
print "<html>
<body background=/var/www/html/light_blue_wallpaper.jpg>
Hello <b>$input{user}</b><br>
Your age: <b>$input{age}</b><br>
Your favorite scripting language: <b>$input{language}</b><br>
</html>
</body>";

[download]

Anybody have any ideas? I'm stumped on this and getting frustrated because I feel like it's probably a stupid mistake that i can't catch.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Internal Server Error apache/httpd
by graff (Chancellor) on Oct 17, 2015 at 02:50 UTC
    Your apache server is trying to execute a perl script that is supposed to exist at this path on the host file system: 
    /var/www/cgi-bin/form.pl

    [download]
    You should be able to do a shell login on the host, and see if that file exists in that directory. If you find that it's not there, you need to place a copy of your perl script there. If it is there, it might be having trouble because of unsuitable permission settings on the file (or on the cgi-bin directory, though this seems unlikely).

    UPDATE: (forgot to mention) I've never seen/used CentOS, but if it's anything like unix/linux, then your script has some problems: 

    #!/user/bin/perl
require("cgi-lib.pl");

    [download]
    The first line should be #!/usr/bin/perl (no "e" in "usr"). Also, the "cgi-bin.pl" file must either be in that same /var/www/cgi-bin directory, or else in one of the directories that your /usr/bin/perl has in its defauilt value for @INC.

    Also, you have your last two close tags in the wrong order: </body> should be above </html>.

[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
      Man... I knew it was something stupid. I just needed another pair of eyes on it. Where i had #!/user/bin/perl instead of #!/usr/bin/perl. I fixed it and everything works now, thanks for helping me out!
[reply]
Re: Internal Server Error apache/httpd
by Your Mother (Archbishop) on Oct 17, 2015 at 03:32 UTC 
    require("cgi-lib.pl");
&ReadParse(*input);

    [download]

    To quote the archæology professor: That belongs in a museum!

[reply]
[d/l]
Re: Internal Server Error apache/httpd
by Anonymous Monk on Oct 17, 2015 at 03:38 UTC
[reply]

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