IST Computer Support Desk FAQ :: Can I run CGI/PHP scripts under the University of Manitoba homepage server?

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Can I run CGI/PHP scripts under the University of Manitoba homepage server?

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Yes, you can run CGI/PHP scripts on the Home Page server ( http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca ) if you have an active Unix userid. Follow the steps below to set up the necessary support for scripts:

Create a cgi-bin directory within your public_html directory (for instructions on setting up your public_html directory, visit http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca).
Put your CGI/PHP script into the cgi-bin directory.
Set the proper access permissions on the script and the directory by typing this command from within the public_html directory:

Your script can be accessed by using the following URL format:

http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~userid/cgi-bin/scriptname

Every file in the cgi-bin directory must be set to be executable. This can be done by doing a chmod 755 on each file you create.

Please note:

Every PHP page must contain: #!/usr/local/bin/php as the first line.
There are no global variables. To access information submitted to a script you have to use predefined variables such as HTTP_GET_VARS and HTTP_POST_VARS.
Every Perl CGI page must contain: #!/usr/local/bin/perl as the first line.
The Support desk does not support/troubleshoot CGI or PHP scripts but if you are having trouble we will try our best to help.

You may wish to use a test script to ensure that everything is working properly.

The following perl script, when entered into a file called hello_world.pl and placed into the cgi-bin directory, will display "Hello World!" on a web page:

#!/usr/local/bin/perl
use CGI;
print "Content-Type: text/html\n\n";
print "<html>\n<head>\n<title>Hello World</title>\n</head>\n";
print "<body><center><h1>HELLO WORLD!</h1></center>\n";
print "<p>Hello World!\n";
print "<i><br>   Hello World!</i>\n";
print "<b><br>      Hello World!</b>\n";
print "</body></html>\n";

Visit the following link to see the result of the script running in the support account: http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~support/cgi-bin/hello_world.pl

The following PHP script, when entered into a file called php_test.php and placed into the cgi-bin directory, will display "PHP rocks!" on a web page:

#!/usr/local/bin/php

<html>
<head><title>
PHP ROCKS!
</title></head>
<body>
<?php
print "PHP rocks!";
?>
</body>
</html>

Visit the following link to see the result of the script running in the support account: http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~support/cgi-bin/php_test.ph

More Information:

For more information about PHP on the home server you can visit: http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~support/cgi-bin/phpinfo.php