edit: My original post below is besides the point! The httpd.conf original content you typed is identical to the default httpd.conf for Mac OS X's included apache server. I just now found this when I decided it was time to configure my own Mac OS X 10.6's web.

This leads me to believe you are editing the wrong httpd.conf. Which file are you editing? The httpd.conf under /etc is for the included apache and (according to XAMPP's website) XAMPP's is located at /Applications/XAMPP/etc/httpd.conf. A first step would be to make sure XAMPP's apache is not conflicting with Mac OS X's included web server.

Original post follows:

In your <Directory> directive, the directory in quotes is where the symlink points to, not the name of the symlink:

<Directory "/Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/cgi-bin/">
...
lrwxr-xr-x   1 user  admin   18 Sep 27 09:49 cgi-bin -> xamppfiles/cgi
+-bin
[download]

Here is a quote from the manual about the FollowSymLink option:

Note: even though the server follows the symlink it does not change the pathname used to match against <Directory> sections.

I think you are right. With XAMPP installed, there are now 2 Apache configurations present. Obviously important to keep httpd.conf files straight. I will go sort this out.

Is it enough to simply have Mac's original Apache turned off while using XAMPP to avoid conflicts?

Thanks for catching this!

Ya I think you are right. Turn off Web Sharing or have the XAMPP server listen on a different port and you should be okay.

A) Don't touch the system install of Apache.

B) Are you aware that you have to stop and re-start Apache for the changes to take effect?

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/howto/cgi.html

1)
DocumentRoot "/Library/Apache2/htdocs"


2)
# First, we configure the "default" to be a very restrictive set of 
# features.  
#
<Directory />
    Options FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride None
    Order deny,allow
    Deny from all
</Directory>

#
# Note that from this point forward you must specifically allow
# particular features to be enabled - so if something's not working as
# you might expect, make sure that you have specifically enabled it
# below.


3)
<IfModule alias_module>
    #
    # Redirect: Allows you to tell clients about documents that used t
+o 
    # exist in your server's namespace, but do not anymore. The client
+ 
    # will make a new request for the document at its new location.
    # Example:
    # Redirect permanent /foo http://www.example.com/bar

    #
    # Alias: Maps web paths into filesystem paths and is used to
    # access content that does not live under the DocumentRoot.
    # Example:
    # Alias /webpath /full/filesystem/path
    #
    # If you include a trailing / on /webpath then the server will
    # require it to be present in the URL.  You will also likely
    # need to provide a <Directory> section to allow access to
    # the filesystem path.

    #
    # ScriptAlias: This controls which directories contain server scri
+pts. 
    # ScriptAliases are essentially the same as Aliases, except that
    # documents in the target directory are treated as applications an
+d
    # run by the server when requested rather than as documents sent t
+o the
    # client.  The same rules about trailing "/" apply to ScriptAlias
    # directives as to Alias.
    #

    ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/Library/Apache2/cgi-bin/"

</IfModule>


4)
<IfModule mime_module>
    #
    # TypesConfig points to the file containing the list of mappings f
+rom
    # filename extension to MIME-type.
    #
    TypesConfig conf/mime.types

    #
    # AddType allows you to add to or override the MIME configuration
    # file specified in TypesConfig for specific file types.
    #
    #AddType application/x-gzip .tgz
    #
    # AddEncoding allows you to have certain browsers uncompress
    # information on the fly. Note: Not all browsers support this.
    #
    #AddEncoding x-compress .Z
    #AddEncoding x-gzip .gz .tgz
    #
    # If the AddEncoding directives above are commented-out, then you
    # probably should define those extensions to indicate media types:
    #
    AddType application/x-compress .Z
    AddType application/x-gzip .gz .tgz

    #
    # AddHandler allows you to map certain file extensions to "handler
+s":
    # actions unrelated to filetype. These can be either built into th
+e server
    # or added with the Action directive (see below)
    #
    # To use CGI scripts outside of ScriptAliased directories:
    # (You will also need to add "ExecCGI" to the "Options" directive.
+)
    #
    #
 
    # I uncommented the following line and added '.pl' to the end of i
+t:

    AddHandler cgi-script .cgi .pl


5) 

# Below I changed AllowOverride from None to FileInfo to get mod_pytho
+n
# CGI Handler to work with a .htaccess file in the cgi-bin directory.
#
<Directory "/Library/Apache2/cgi-bin">
    AllowOverride FileInfo
    Options None
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
</Directory>
[download]

Listen, thanks to all above for the help. Yes, the problem was entirely that I was editing the wrong copy of httpd.conf -- quite stupid of me. Now have configured the correct version of the file, and CGI executes normally.

Thank you again for the assistance!

Hi Shuraski! You have found the way to enable CGI. Please can you write it stepwise Regards