Fundamental cgi-question

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

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Fundamental cgi-question by chromatic (Archbishop) on Feb 28, 2006 at 20:26 UTC
Depending on the webserver, you can do anything in response to a request. You could make it run all .html files through an Apache module (mod_cgi, mod_perl, mod_php, whatever) or set up a custom 404 handler and not put an index.html in that directory or send all requests to the parent part of the URL to a custom handler, for example.	[reply]
Re: Fundamental cgi-question by ikegami (Patriarch) on Feb 28, 2006 at 21:07 UTC
I presume you more interested in making the default file executable, rather than index.html specifically. When no file is specified (as in `http://www.example.com/` and `http://www.example.com/dir/`), the web server looks for a list of files. Usually that list starts with `index.html`. If you use the following command (Apache's syntax), the web server will use `index.cgi` as the default if `index.cgi` is not found. `# Globally, in <VirtualHost>, in <Directory> or in .htaccess DirectoryIndex index.html index.cgi` [download] For example, if you have that line in your `<VirtualHost>`, requesting `http://www.example.com/` would be the same as `http://www.example.com/index.cgi`.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Fundamental cgi-question by gman (Friar) on Feb 28, 2006 at 20:12 UTC
Probably not the best solution, but I have used a redirect. `<meta http-equiv="REFRESH" content="0;url=/cgi-bin/index.pl">` [download] A server re-write would probably be the best solution. Not sure I understood the question correctly.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Fundamental cgi-question by mda2 (Hermit) on Mar 01, 2006 at 02:34 UTC
I´m supose the best is a mod_perl handler to do it... see the "First Mystery" from modperl ;) Basically you assing a package to work with <location> tag of Apache. Others options are available... redirects (I don´t like it) and SSI (Server Side Includes). -- Marco Antonio Rio-PM	[reply]
Re: Fundamental cgi-question by Anonymous Monk on Feb 28, 2006 at 23:01 UTC
Here is a simple index.html example that redirects a user's request for index.html to your script: `<html> <head> <script language="javascript"> <!-- location.replace('http://server.name/your/script'); // --> </script> </head> <body>This site requires javascript.</body> </html>` [download]	[reply] [d/l]