Cannot run cgi, show plain text only (Ubuntu 13.10 Apache 2.4)

Question

I just install Ubuntu 13.10 and I am trying to install Apache. But when I tried to run a perl file in cgi-bin, the browser showed only plain text.

My default.conf of Apa

Answer 1

Make sure apache cgi mode is enable

sudo a2enmod cgi   //will enable the cgi mode
sudo a2dismod cgi  //Will disable the cgi mode

Keep your all files under the webroot "cgi-bin" folder

sudo mkdir /home/www/cgi-bin

Make sure that the file permission to the .cgi file is okay

sudo chmod 755 yourFile.cgi

Try executing it through terminal

perl /Path_To_The_File/fileName.cgi

Ensure that your fileName.cgi contains bellow code at top of the file

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";

If all above step is working well then

Create virtual host in apache for your perl project

cp /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf ./your_project.conf
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/your_project.conf

Inside your your_project.conf file, replace these lines

    ServerAdmin xyz@gmail.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/cgi-bin          //Define where your project is
    ServerName your_project.com                 //URL through which you want to access
    ServerAlias your_project.com


    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log        //Error for the project will store in this file
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined


    ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/var/www/html/cgi-bin/"  //particular directory is set aside for CGI programs

    
    ##TO consider the files as cgi which has .cgi and .pl extension
    Options +ExecCGI
    AddHandler cgi-script .cgi .pl

    ##To consider all files as cgi file  (if want to use remove # from last two line add in above 2 line)
    #Options ExecCGI
    #SetHandler cgi-script
    

Run these commands

sudo a2ensite your_project.conf      //Will enable your configuration file
sudo service apache2 restart         //Restarting apache2

Add your host

sudo nano /etc/hosts
//add this line
127.0.0.1   your_project.com

Now run execute your cgi file

your_project.com/cgi-bin/fileName.cgi