in reply to Perl, CGI, Emacs ~ files...

What web server are you running?

If I had to guess I'd say that the web server has a security feature that disables executing CGI or even serving the directory if there are emacs backup files in there. The idea would be that the emacs backups are there unintentionally and therefore could have unintended consequences (like serving your source code, or running half-edited code).

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Re^2: Perl, CGI, Emacs ~ files...
by technojosh (Priest) on Oct 09, 2007 at 17:02 UTC
    I believe this is correct.

    Web Servers will usually crap out if they find a file in the cgi-bin that doesn't execute correctly

[reply]
      Do you have any reason to believe there was an attempt to execute the backup files?
[reply]

      Web Servers will usually crap out if they find a file in the cgi-bin that doesn't execute correctly

      I hope you mean, *crap out* if the *specific* file is not executable. (Which is not the case with the OP).

      -derby
[reply]

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