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?

C) Before proceeding any further, read the following at the Apache website:

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

D) Here are some relevant sections from my httpd.conf that may help you (not listed in any specific order). I installed Apache 2.2.4 in the directory /Library on mac osx 10.4.11:

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>
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