Everytime I try to install a script to my site I get the same error. I know it's something that I'm messing up but for the life of me just can't figure out what it is. I am going to put as much of it here as I can without overloading you but I would appreciate as much as and guidance as possible so that I can understand what it is that I'm doing wrong. Thank you in advance for anybody that attempts to help me out in this frustrating time I'm having.
Directions for script:
Installing Hello Baby!
Follow these steps to install and configure the scripts:
copy the "hello_baby" directory (including all subdirectories) in the desired HTML path on your server. Here is a summary of the subdirectories:
(I copied them all into the file "hello_ba"[smilestopper])
babies - This is the subdirectory that will contain the announcements. Permissions on this directory must be set to chmod 777.
(When I FTP'ed them over, I did it in ASCII and changed this subdirectory to 777)
templates - This directory contains the html-based templates for generating individual page designs.
copy the "hello" directory into your cgi directory. Here is a summary of the scripts and what they do:
cgi-lib.pl - A freely-distributed PERL module script.
(I did copy on this directory and pasted it into my cgi-bin directory)
hello_go.pl - the script that actually creates pages.
hello_preview.pl - the script that uploads photos and displays a preview
hello_prefs.pm - shared subroutines
Configuring HTML files
You must specify the web address to hello_preview.pl; You should also look at templates to ensure that any default links to images are accurate for your server.
(I checked out the html files but I didn't see anywhere that I needed to do this to..)
Configuring Scripts
For Hello_Baby to work properly, you must set variables specific to your web site. These include the following:
Variables in hello_prefs.pl:
$mailer - This variable actually determines whether you're using our script on Unix (mail) or NT (Blat/GBMAIL)
$blat/$mail/$gbmail - You only need to define one of these variables based on your mailer selection. It's the location to the mailer. If you select gbmail, you must also define gbmailer-specific variables, as shown in the script.
$home - URL location of the "hello_baby" directory.
$homepath - The file path to "hello_baby" directory.
Other Scripts:
For all other scripts, you only need to ensure that the filepath to PERL in the first line of each script is correct.
(I made sure they were all correct)
Configuring Templates
The templates directory contains templates for all HTML the script generates. They are HTML pages -- do with them what you will.
Now I will include the "edited" parts of the script that I changed...
hello_go.pl:
Unedited:
#!/usr/local/bin/perl
require hello_prefs;
require "cgi-lib.pl";
Edited:
#!/usr/bin/perl
require hello_prefs;
require "cgi-lib.pl";
cgi-lib.pl:
Unedited:
# Parameters affecting cgi-lib behavior
# User-configurable parameters affecting file upload.
$cgi_lib'maxdata = 131072; # maximum bytes to accept via POST - 2^17
$cgi_lib'writefiles = "\\online\\htdocs\\workshop\\hello_baby\\babies"; # directory to which to write files, or
# 0 if files should not be written
#$cgi_lib'filepre = "new"; # Prefix of file names, in directory above
Edited:
# Parameters affecting cgi-lib behavior
# User-configurable parameters affecting file upload.
$cgi_lib'maxdata = 131072; # maximum bytes to accept via POST - 2^17
$cgi_lib'writefiles = "/hsphere/local/home/melodyt/friendsandfamilies.com/hello_ba/hello_ba/babies"; # directory to which to write files, or
# 0 if files should not be written
#$cgi_lib'filepre = "new"; # Prefix of file names, in directory above
hello_preview.pl
Unedited:
#!/usr/bin/perl
use hello_prefs;
require "cgi-lib.pl";
Edited:
#!/usr/bin/perl
use hello_prefs;
require "cgi-lib.pl";
hello_prefs.pm
Unedited:
#!/usr/local/bin/perl
#What's the main URL for your web site?
$home="http://www.onlinearts.net/workshop/hello_baby";
#What's the root file path to your web site?
$homepath="/online/htdocs/workshop/hello_baby";
$pagedir="$homepath/babies";
$counter="$homepath/babies/count.txt";
$weasel="$homepath/babies/weasel.txt";
#which mailer are you using? "Blat/gbmail" (NT) or "mail"?
#$mailer="Blat";# option for NT
#$mailer="gbmail"; # option for NT
#$mailer="mail"; #for unix
$mailer="sendmail"; #for unix
#where is Blat? (For NT if selected)
$blat="/online/cgi-shl/trial/Blat";
#where is gbmail? (ON NT)
$gbmail="/online/cgi-shl/misc/gbmail";
#whats your smtp cost name?
$host="pwc.powerweb.net";
#whats the gbmail return address?
$return="administrator\@onlinearts.net";
#where is mail? (on Unix only)
$mail="/user/bin/mail";
#where is sendmail? (on Unix only)
$sendmail="/usr/lib/sendmail";
#what is the return address?
$from="everybody\@onlinearts.net";
Edited:
#!/usr/bin/perl
#What's the main URL for your web site?
$home="http://www.friendsandfamilies.com/hello_ba/hello_ba";
#What's the root file path to your web site?
$homepath="/hsphere/local/home/melodyt/friendsandfamilies.com/hello_ba/hello_ba";
$pagedir="$homepath/babies";
$counter="$homepath/babies/count.txt";
$weasel="$homepath/babies/weasel.txt";
#which mailer are you using? "sendmail"?
#$mailer="Blat";# option for NT
#$mailer="gbmail"; # option for NT
#$mailer="mail"; #for unix
$mailer="sendmail"; #for unix
#where is Blat? (For NT if selected)
$blat="/online/cgi-shl/trial/Blat";
#where is gbmail? (ON NT)
$gbmail="/online/cgi-shl/misc/gbmail";
#whats your smtp cost name?
$host="pwc.powerweb.net";
#whats the gbmail return address?
$return="administrator\@onlinearts.net";
#where is mail? (on Unix only)
$mail="/user/bin/mail";
#where is sendmail? (on Unix only)
$sendmail="/usr/lib/sendmail";
#what is the return address?
$from="webmaster\@friendsandfamilies.com";
Sorry if I've overloaded it with this but I just want to make sure to give all information so I can figure out what I'm doing wrong. Thank you all so much for helping me out with this.
You didn't post what the error message is that you keep getting. So, I'll take a wild guess that it's a 500 error. If this is the case, it is usually caused by one or more of the following:
-- Some of the files which should have been uploaded as ASCII were actually transferred as binary. Some FTP programs will do this even though they say ASCII. Not sure why it happens. When I play with Perl, I always use SmartFTP because I found it to be fairly consistent in transferring files properly. Whichever client you use make sure it has all the file extensions that must be transferred as ASCII.
-- Permission on the executable files were not changed to 755.
-- If the Perl script is running outside the cgi-bin, the directory does not have an addtype or some panel setting to recognize .cgi and .pl as Perl executables.
-- Paths to Perl or other directories/files are listed incorrectly.
Hopefully, this gives you some idea on where to start looking.
If Bluesky's possible solutions don't solve it for you, try putting the following line just below the shebang line (the path to perl on the first line of every perl script), it will print the error to your browser instead of the logs so you can quickly see what's wrong. Remove the line again when you've got the script working.
If the error message doesn't help you solve the problem it may enable someone here to help you better with the problem.
Add this to your script(s):
use CGI::Carp qw(carpout fatalsToBrowser);
For example:
change
#!/usr/bin/perl
to
#!/usr/bin/perl
use CGI::Carp qw(carpout fatalsToBrowser);
Lacking the error messages (Damian has a good point in fatals to browser - do try it : ) i can give no extra advice apart from this link to an about.com article on perl script errors, it's three pages and quite understandable even for a complete newbie ;)
[perl.about.com...]
Apart from the obvious (always: ASCII-upload, paths and filenames, and file/directory permissions), the linked page mentions eg. that some servers are not allowed to run cgi's off a subdirectory ("/hello/") of the cgi-bin.
If this is the case you'll have to move your scripts and the "cgi-lib.pl" one directory upstream and perhaps you have to change some references in the scripts if that directory name is required.
/claus
This is the error that I get in the browser:
Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@friendsandfamilies.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.
More information about this error may be available in the server error log.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apache/1.3.27 Server at friendsandfamilies.com Port 80
This is the error in the error log:
[Fri Aug 15 10:44:22 2003] [error] [client 66.229.13.87] Premature end of script headers: /hsphere/local/home/melodyt/friendsandfamilies.com/cgi-bin/hello/hello_preview.pl
I'm so sorry that I forgot to include those.
I did make sure that I FTP'ed in ASCII but I will download the FTP program that was mentioned and try that. I have tried to download about 5 different sripts to my site all Perl/CGI and I have had no luck with any of them. I've tried this particular script about 4 times and each time paid more and more attention to each detail and made sure that I got everything right. I will try a new FTP program and see if that has any difference.
By the way, I did find that PHP was ALOT easier to deal with and add those often to my site. I just have these scripts that I would like to get added as they seem like very good options to have. Thank you all for your replied and again so sorry for forgetting that important part.
All of the files that are FTP'ed need to be chmod 755 then the cgi files need to be 777 or is that wrong?
*pulling out hair*
that's wrong.. cgi files need to be 755
I don't know what the permissions should be for the other files. Your templates and data files should probably be 777 but check the manual on that before you change it.. it's likely to be detailed in the install instrcutions which files should have which permissions.
The script "hello_preview.pl" started and then it ended before it should have it seems. If it needs to write to some files that should be 777 but isn't, then that might explain it.
A binary character inside the script is also a possibility. What kind of text editor did you use to make the changes? Did you try "fatals to browser" in "hello_preview.pl" (post #3)?
/claus
As for the fatals to browser, in what file do I put that in?
The text editor that I use is Arachnophilia. I used to use Dreamweaver then Notepad but keep switching because I have been told the others can cause problems. I just want to get to the bottom of what I'm doing wrong :[smilestopper](
Well i just found and downloaded the hello baby script.. i do understand your frustration, there's absolutely no guidance on permissions.
Try this, i'm just guessing here:
755 cgi-lib.pl
755 hello_go.pl
755 hello_preview.pl
755 hello_prefs.pm
777 /babies/
777 /babies/count.txt
777 /templates/ (or is it "template"?)
777 /templates/all-files-ending-in-htm.htm
I don't know if this directory is supposed to be called templates with or without a "s" in the end, the doc is also unclear here, but in the "hello_prefs" it's hardcoded with an "s" so the s should be there...
Also, in my distribution, the "hello_prefs.pm" is called "hello_pr.pm" so an "efs" must be added.
/claus
Fatals: just like Damian wrote in post #3:
#!/usr/bin/perl
use CGI::Carp qw(carpout fatalsToBrowser);
- in the hello_prefs file (and hello_go)
Sorry
Some required fields are missing.
I posted all the unedited and edited ones with the instructions. Can anybody see what required information that I could be missing?
Thank you ALL for all the help with this!
That was the file i was thinking about, i wrote the wrong name
>> Sorry
Well, now it's running it seems... that's the oops routine form "hello_preview.pl" that gets done when these conditions are met:
if ($cgi_data{'babyname'} eq "" ¦¦ $cgi_data{'parent'} eq ""){
&oops;
}That is: "babyname" or "parent" are missing. You might want to look for "# SORRY" in "hello_preferences.pm" and edit this line to include those two field names:
<TD colspan=\"2\"><P>Some required fields are missing.</p>
- oh, and edit the "index.htm" as well so it does not say "all fields are optional". I really don't think this software is 100% finished and ready for use, i wish i had more time to look at it, as i'm not convinced security is all that good either.
/claus
Not Found
The requested URL /hello_ba/babies/baby_166_makena.html was not found on this server
Obviously it's not creating the pages like it's supposed to. Where would that variable be?
AHHHHHHH It's seems I'm getting closer and have DEFINITELY got some progress but this is a pain...
There's this code in the hello_go script - numbers are added by me:
-----------------
(1) $babypage=$pagedir."\\baby_".$index."_".$begin.".html";
(2) $babylink="baby_".$index."_".$begin.".html";
(...some lines before email text...)
(3) please visit the following URL:
(4) $home/babies/$babylink
-----------------and this is what you wrote in the hello_prefs:
-----------------
(5) $home="http://www.your-domain.com/hello_ba/hello_ba";
(6) $homepath="/hsphere/local/home/melodyt/your-domain.com/hello_ba/hello_ba";
(7) $pagedir="$homepath/babies";
------------------ indicating that the baby page URL will be:
your-domain.com/hello_ba/hello_ba/babies/baby_xxx_yyy.html (line 1+7+6)
and that the email will print out this url:
http ://www.your-domain.com/hello_ba/hello_ba/babies/baby_xxx_yyy.html (line 4+5+2)
These two addresses are identical, so there should be no problem here... In your cgi-lib however (yes this is complicated) you have written this:
-----------------
(8) $cgi_lib'writefiles = "/.../your-domain.com/hello_ba/hello_ba/babies"; # directory to which to write files, or
(9) #$cgi_lib'filepre = "new"; # Prefix of file names, in directory above
------------------ so this is where the "new_" comes from (line 9). The cgi-lib is the thing that is actually writing the files, it just get called from the other scripts. The weird thing is that i do not see the "new" being put to use anywere... The line 9 variable is not referenced in any of the scripts, nor is the word "new".
In the latest released version (source: [cgi-lib.berkeley.edu...] ) , it is being employed in this line:
-----------------
# ($me) = $0 =~ m#([^/]*)$#;
$writefiles .= "/$cgi_lib'filepre";
-----------------However, in the version you are using these lines are in stead:
-----------------
# ($me) = $0 =~ m#([^/]*)$#;
$writefiles .= "\\$in{$fn}";
-----------------So basically i think you're using another version than the one you think you are using (a version pre-installed on your server that is.) The one that comes with the script is clearly modified - it is not the official one.
Perhaps i'm not right here, but please try changing the prefix in line 9 (above - in your "cgi-lib.pl") to something else, like "whatever" and see what the filenames of the new baby files are - if they include "whatever" then you should be using the cgi-lib you think.
That's not necessarily good though... there may be a security issue here - there's some parts of the code that are odd, and it's fairly hard to digest with four scripts and html as well, so - it might just be lazy programming or bad finish, but it might as well be a major security hole.
/claus
