You mean a page in shtml (whatever that is), has a form, which when filled out posts the data to your perl program? What does the "authentication" then? You can store the variables that way, but you can't retrieve them, only perl can retrieve them, so only perl can produce a page using your variables.

It's not easy to just add a CGI script to an existing set of HTML pages, just because you decide you need it. You need to redesign. It would be a lot easier if you created your pages with the perl CGI program too.

Update: Of course, to read the cookie later, after it is set, the CGI will also need to be one that can access the HTTP headers directly. In short, you cannot run CGI scripts like that, so please rethink your program/site.

C.