It's easy to work out. The site is called Perl Monks. Questions about Perl are on topic.

Questions about CGI programs written in Perl are on topic. Questions about CGI programs written in other languages are off topic.

Questions about the CGI protocol itself are probably off topic - but I suspect we'd let that go and answer the question anyway. In fact in most cases we seem to just go ahead and answer off topic questions anyway.

This is a Perl forum. If the problem involves Perl it is probably on topic (or at least people will tell you, generally politely, why it's off topic and what to search for/where you might be able to find suitable help). Anything completely un Perl-related is obviously off topic.

Update: fixed a small typo, thanks jeffa :)

"How do I use CGI to get a select list?" is Perl and on topic.

"How do I make my select list flush left in the browser window?" has nothing to do with Perl and is off topic.

"How do I use DBI to get things out of MySQL?" is Perl and on topic.

"How do I copy a set of stored procedures from one MSSQL server to another? Oh yeah, I may use perl to do this." is not really Perl and is off topic.

Configuring your webserver, using CSS, SQL syntax questions, et al don't really have anything to do strictly with Perl per se. Just because you're having the problem while writing Perl does not a Perl problem make.

AM, Here's a list that may help:

• CGI:
  • if your cgi is written is perl - on topic
  • if your cgi is written in php or vb or c or ruby or anything other than perl - off topic
• HTML:
  • if your HTML is constructed with perl - on topic
  • if your HTML is constructed with php or vb or c or ruby or anything other than perl - off topic
• MYSQL:
  • if your talking about C-CRUD (connect, create retrieve, update, or delete) with perl - on topic
  • if your talking about C-CRUD (connect, create retrieve, update, or delete) with php or vb or c or ruby or anything other than perl - off topic
• APACHE:
  • if your talking about mod_perl - on topic
  • if your talking about mod_php, or mod_vb (yikes) or mod_ruby or anything other than mod_perl - off topic

You see the pattern here?

• SUBJECT:
  • If perl is somewhere in the mix - it's on topic
  • If perl is not somewhere in the mix - it's off topic

That being said, I have to say a lot of OT subjects will yield decent answers and less chastising if 1) you mark it as OT and 2) you ask the question effectively.

Your criteria aren't quite accurate.

Just because a script is written in Perl doesn't mean that the problem being addressed in the question is a Perl issue or question. If there's Perl somewhere in the mix, and the question is dealing with the Perl portion of the mix, you're on topic. But if there's Perl somewhere in the mix, and the question is dealing with SQL, or HTML, or something unrelated to Perl, you're off topic.

Examples: "I have a Perl script and can't figure out why my SELECT statement isn't finding the correct data." -- That's an SQL question, not a Perl question.

"I have a CGI script written in Perl, and can't figure out how to make a table." -- That's an HTML question, as long as it's already understood that print is all that's needed to output HTML.




Dave

If you were writing a CGI script in C and came here for help, that would be considered off-topic (although you'd probably still get some useful answers).

Pure HTML/MySQL/Apache questions are considered off-topic, but those that involve Perl are not.

Bottom line is: use a bit of common sense. If your question involves the use of Perl in some way, then it's (probably) on-topic. It's not _that_ difficult to figure out.

Cheers,
Darren :)

A good touchstone for on-topicness is that if the question can be asked and an answer given entirely without reference to Perl then question is almost certainly off-topic, however even if the question and/or answer does refer to Perl but would make just as much sense if the references to perl were replaced by another programming language then the matter is equally off-topic. The latter clause I find does apply to the majority of CGI questions here.

/J\

OP asks "How CGI becomes on-topic.It is "Common Gateway Interface" isn't it."

    Well, in reality, I think you'll find most questions entitled or labeled with CGI here will draw a common reaction/assumption/inference -- namely, that "OP is asking about using a perl script, in a CGI context." unless the question specifically asks about some other language.

OTH, many questions re Apache shade towards "how do I make Apache do x?" That's a question best directed to the folks who wrote/maintain/focus on Apache. MySQL questions directed to interfacing with perl tend to be received, receptively... but not the questions that boil down to "I haven't bothered to study the documents, but please teach me MySQL." Same goes for .html questions: you may find Monks forthcoming about how to template a web page and use perl to keep it up to date -- since their are modules specifically for that purpose... but when the question runs toward "what's wrong with a <p> tag inside a <span style="futz:foo; bar: blivitz;"> ?" -- well that's better directed to the readily available documentation (see, for example, http://www.w3c.org) or communities where .html is "Topic A."

And if you don't know what's an appropriate site to post some particular question, you probably haven't taken the trouble to learn enough of the basics of the subject to guide you. And that does tend to make folks grumpy.

I consider a question about, say Apache, concerning configuration for running perl, to be on topic. Some monks may disagree, but I'll answer if I know.

I also consider an off-topic question which admits a neat answer in perl to be fine. Of course, the querent doesn't know the question's ok and neither do the rest of us until someone spots the answer.

I'm inclined to be liberal on this up to the point we get floods of lazy OT questions.

This place would be really dull if all we could talk about were perl syntax.