doc/help/cgi.html

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   2 <!-- SECTION: Getting Started -->
   3 <HEAD>
   4         <TITLE>Using CGI Programs</TITLE>
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   8
   9 <H1 CLASS="title">Using CGI Programs</H1>
  10
  11 <P>CUPS provides a dynamic web interface through dedicated CGI programs that
  12 are executed when users open special directories on the CUPS server. Each CGI
  13 performs administration, class, help, job, and printer functions as directed by
  14 the user, but the actual programs that are run and functions that are available
  15 are limited to those that were originally designed into the scheduler.</P>
  16
  17 <P>CUPS also supports CGI programs and specific scripting languages (Java, Perl,
  18 PHP, and Python) for pages you want to provide.  The interpreters for these
  19 languages are currently configured at compile time and are associated with
  20 MIME media types. <a href="#TABLE1">Table 1</a> shows the MIME media types that
  21 are reserved for each type of page and are the same as those used by the Apache
  22 web server.</P>
  23
  24 <DIV CLASS="table"><TABLE SUMMARY="CGI MIME Media Types">
  25 <CAPTION><A NAME="TABLE1">Table 1</A>: CGI MIME Media Types</CAPTION>
  26 <TR>
  27         <TH>MIME Media Type</TH>
  28         <TH>Description</TH>
  29 </TR>
  30 <TR>
  31         <TD>application/x-httpd-cgi</TD>
  32         <TD>CGI script/program</TD>
  33 </TR>
  34 <TR>
  35         <TD>application/x-httpd-java</TD>
  36         <TD>Java program</TD>
  37 </TR>
  38 <TR>
  39         <TD>application/x-httpd-perl</TD>
  40         <TD>Perl script</TD>
  41 </TR>
  42 <TR>
  43         <TD>application/x-httpd-php</TD>
  44         <TD>PHP script</TD>
  45 </TR>
  46 <TR>
  47         <TD>application/x-httpd-python</TD>
  48         <TD>Python script</TD>
  49 </TR>
  50 </TABLE></DIV>
  51
  52 <H2><A NAME="CONFIG">Configuring the Server</A></H2>
  53
  54 <P>In order to enable the corresponding type, you must create a
  55 new <VAR>/etc/cups/cgi.types</VAR> file which maps the filename
  56 extensions to the appropriate MIME types, for example:</P>
  57
  58 <PRE CLASS="command">
  59 application/x-httpd-cgi cgi
  60 application/x-httpd-java class
  61 application/x-httpd-perl pl
  62 application/x-httpd-php php
  63 application/x-httpd-python py
  64 </PRE>
  65
  66 <P>CGI scripts/programs (application/x-httpd-cgi) also must be owned by root, have execution permissions, and not have world or group write permissions to be treated as a CGI script or program.</P>
  67
  68 <H2><A NAME="LIMITS">Limitations</A></H2>
  69
  70 <P>CUPS implements most of the CGI/1.1 specification, with the
  71 following exceptions:</P>
  72
  73 <UL>
  74
  75         <LI>No PATH_INFO or PATH_TRANSLATED support</LI>
  76
  77         <LI>Limited HTTP field support; only the Content-Length (CONTENT_LENGTH), Content-Type (CONTENT_TYPE), Cookie (HTTP_COOKIE), Referrer (HTTP_REFERRER), and User-Agent (HTTP_USER_AGENT) fields are placed in environment variables at this time</LI>
  78
  79 </UL>
  80
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