Tag: perl

Geekcode

A very long time ago there was an online means to identify yourself online with a short abstracted code that resembled a PGP email signature, at that time I identified as:


-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
Created: 1999/02/02
GCS/IT d-(++@) s+:+ a- c++ UL++(++++$) P+++$ L+ E W+++$
N++ o++++ K w+++ O M V PS+ PE++ Y++ PGP+++ t+ 5 X++ R(-)
tv+ b+ DI+++ D+ G++ e++ h(-) r>++ y++*
-----END GEEK CODE BLOCK-----

REFERENCES:

Installing Perl CGI on Apache (for Windows)

Installing Perl on a Win32 installation of Apache is trivial. Just a few short years ago (roughly the year 2000) most commercial website still ran large amounts of Perl code. Several open-source projects like BugZilla still rely on this powerful scripting language.

Here’s a few simple steps and advice to consider when the need comes to add this feature to your installation.

  1. Download Perl for Win32 – ActiveState Perl is the standard distribution to use, and installation is a snap.URL = http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePerl/a) Get the MSI file version as it’s executable (the AS version is a ZIP file for manual installs)

    b) The default path it chooses is “C:\Perl”, I advise that you use “c:\usr” instead as it makes it easier to port programs to and from UNIX/LINUX.

    c) The MSI installer takes care of the PATH file settings, so you should have no other work for installation.

  2. Modify the Apache httpd.conf file to enable (uncomment or add the following lines).

    AddHandler cgi-script .cgi
    AddHandler cgi-script .pl

  3. Restart Windows to ensure that the new configuration is available to the operating system.
  4. Test your install…a) Create a new file on the server named /cgi-bin/hello.pl with the following content:

    #!/usr/bin/perl
    print “Content-type:text/html\n\n”;
    print “hello world”;

    b) Start (or restart) the Apache service.

    c) Access the file in the browser, example:

    URL = http://localhost/cgi-bin/hello.pl

    d) If everything works, you should see the words “hello world”, otherwise, if you see the source code or ‘500 Server Error’ then the config has a problem.

Happy Scripting.

WAMP Servers

I often find myself administering WAMP (Windows, Apache, PHP/Perl/Python, mySQL) servers…. usually this occurs because it is better ‘supported’ (or perhaps ‘tolerated’) configuration in a corporate alternative to the more common LAMP (Linux… etc.) variety. This gives you the benefit of a centrally controlled operating system while maintaining a mostly open source server environment. Albeit with Microsoft’s poor security record, you’ll be patching it a LOT!

Many common distributions exist… here’s some helpful resources with downloads:

If you are a Java shop, you might also consider the following…

Configuration of each of these is a topic in it’s own right. If you need a shortcut to development, you may want to check out this!

Good luck!!!

Whoami

I’m skotfred, aka ‘Giant Geek’, developer of (predominantly web-based) applications. Primary development done with JSP/Java, PHP, XHTML/CSS/JavaScript. Previous applications in VisualBASIC, C/C++, Perl, COBOL/CICS, BASIC (various), Assember (PC & MVS), and Pascal.

Standards ARE everything, particularly when building for multiple platforms… look for more ramblings soon!