Hard time setting up ruby with apache

Hi,

I’ve browsed alot through this forum, did online search but havent been
able to successfully setup Ruby with Apache. All I want to do is create
a form handling script using Ruby. I tried renaming .rb scrips as .cgi
and I even installed mod_ruby(which some say is not needed), but nothing
seems to work. After making the required changes in the httpd.conf file,
when I click “submit” on my test forum I get the following:

Forbidden

You don’t have permission to access /forms/cgi-bin/survey.cgi on this
server

Although, I made sure that the file had all the required permissions.

In another case, when httpd.conf is not pointing at the right places,
the ruby code shows up in the browser.

Does anyone know whats going on ?

Any help would be greatly appreciated ?

Gale Cho wrote:

Hi,

I’ve browsed alot through this forum, did online search but havent been
able to successfully setup Ruby with Apache. All I want to do is create
a form handling script using Ruby. I tried renaming .rb scrips as .cgi
and I even installed mod_ruby(which some say is not needed), but nothing
seems to work. After making the required changes in the httpd.conf file,
when I click “submit” on my test forum I get the following:

I believe you need to have read and execution permissions on all the
directories, and you need to set up ScriptAlias inside your
configuration file. The configuration file is a trick, as it seems to
differ on every flavor of Apache install I’ve ever run into. I’ve never
seen so much variation as with Apache. Sometimes its httpd.conf,
sometimes apache2.conf, on my laptop using Ubuntu Feisty it has
/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default which points to
/etc/apache2/sites-available/default.

My apologies if this is not what you’re asking. There should be
examples on use of ScriptAlias for typical configuration that you can
pull up quickly in Google.

xc

seen so much variation as with Apache. Sometimes its httpd.conf,
sometimes apache2.conf, on my laptop using Ubuntu Feisty it has
/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default which points to
/etc/apache2/sites-available/default.

I’m pretty sure I’m playing with the right file, because I have noticed
difference in behaviours upon making changes. But want I dont understand
is that Apache’s FAQ specifically says that anything under ScriptAlias
doesnt need any further configuration, it will “execute” if called. But
I’m still getting the “You don’t have permission to access
/forms/cgi-bin/survey.cgi on this
server” error.
Somebody please help me. I’ve spent just too much time trying to make it
work.

Thanks,
Gale

What you really need is a book on Apache and a little more Googling.
There is a lot of Apache stuff out there to read.
One problem is that there are two main varieties of Apache, 1.3 and 2.x
They’re similar but quite different too. The biggest difference you
will notice is that all the files and directories are not the same
between the two major versions.
Some advice is for one and not for the other, some is for both.

The big problem you’re probably facing, and I’ve had my own troubles
tracking this stuff down too, is that in the true Unix tradition,
Apache has multiple places to configure the same things.
Apache 1.3 for example, has httpd.conf, and there can be other .conf
files that belong to admins. There is also .htaccess which is
similar, but local to a directory. You also have to set the main web
directory.

It is similar to the Bash shell and its PATH, the thing can be
adjusted in multiple files, and all of those files are read by the
program on startup.

You really do need to get a reference book on Apache! You will be
glad you did, because apache.org is not newbie friendly.

In the meantime, just google htaccess, httpd and apache stuff until
you find it.

Gale CC wrote:

seen so much variation as with Apache. Sometimes its httpd.conf,
sometimes apache2.conf, on my laptop using Ubuntu Feisty it has
/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default which points to
/etc/apache2/sites-available/default.

I’m pretty sure I’m playing with the right file, because I have noticed
difference in behaviours upon making changes. But want I dont understand
is that Apache’s FAQ specifically says that anything under ScriptAlias
doesnt need any further configuration, it will “execute” if called.

Okay, please quote the exact line in the FAQ in your next post. That
kind of thing can be mis-paraphrased easily when one is new to these
things.
But

I’m still getting the "You don’t have permission to access
/forms/cgi-bin/survey.cgi

  1. Did you make sure your directory tree has read and execution
    privileges at every level above? Here is mine:

    ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/
    root@joehill:~# ls -ald /usr
    drwxr-xr-x 13 root root 4096 2007-06-06 21:35 /usr
    root@joehill:~# ls -ald /usr/lib
    drwxr-xr-x 57 root root 12288 2007-06-18 14:54 /usr/lib
    root@joehill:~# ls -ald /usr/lib/cgi-bin/
    drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2007-06-14 17:08 /usr/lib/cgi-bin/
    —snip—
    Please see that for each of the nodes, and the file itself:
    -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 169 2007-06-09 14:42 blek.sh
    —snip—
    all three categories have read and execute privileges (the most
    important being the last, which is world “r-x”. This is critical,
    because Apache relays these protections by behaving according to their
    implications, so a public user coming in through http gets the
    privileges of “other” the third category, which is “tous le monde”, so
    to speak.

  2. The actual ScriptAlias, in my /etc/apache2/sites-available/default
    is in fact part of a large stanza, as follows:

NameVirtualHost *
<VirtualHost *>
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost

DocumentRoot /var/www/
<Directory />
    Options FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride None
</Directory>
<Directory /var/www/>
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
    AllowOverride None
    Order allow,deny
    allow from all
    # This directive allows us to have apache2's default start page
            # in /apache2-default/, but still have / go to the right

place
#RedirectMatch ^/$ /apache2-default/

ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/
<Directory "/usr/lib/cgi-bin">
    AllowOverride None
    Options ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
</Directory>

ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log

# Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit,
# alert, emerg.
LogLevel warn

CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined
ServerSignature On

Alias /doc/ "/usr/share/doc/"
<Directory "/usr/share/doc/">
    Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride None
    Order deny,allow
    Deny from all
    Allow from 127.0.0.0/255.0.0.0 ::1/128
</Directory>

Actually, I have dumped the whole file here for your perusal. The
thing is, capabilities in Apache XMLy configurations are rather complex,
and allow lots of stuff. But you may not necessarily be able to do it
in a way you find intuitive. That is why I suggested you may need to
quote us the FAQ, as it my imply something different from what you
think. I’d recommend you start with a configuration that is alleged to
work for your revision of Apache, and modify it carefully step by step,
not changing more than one aspect at a time. Do not even change the
script at the same time as the configuration. Just one at a time. I’d
recommend something like the following as a simple starting script :

#!/bin/bash
echo “Content-type: text/html”
echo
echo “”
echo “

Blek!


date
echo “”
—snip—
Then in the browser, make sure it comes out orange, and make sure
especially that it says “Blek!”. That’s your simple starting point,
then work up from there. And believe me: taking simple steps is a
normal procedure for all people doing this. This is nothing to feel bad
about.

Very best wishes.

xc

on this

Firstly, thank you so much for your long and patient reply. I really
appreciate it.

Okay, please quote the exact line in the FAQ in your next post. That
kind of thing can be mis-paraphrased easily when one is new to these
things.
But

Here’s the link:
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/misc/FAQ.html#CGIoutsideScriptAlias

  1. Did you make sure your directory tree has read and execution
    privileges at every level above? Here is mine:

Yes, I just checked and all my directories already had drwxr-xr-x
permissions.

Then in the browser, make sure it comes out orange, and make sure
especially that it says “Blek!”. That’s your simple starting point,
then work up from there.

I ran the script and dumped the output in a .html and it works fine.

But still, when I click the submit button it shows me the source code
and doesnt execute. And just to let you know, I dont have a .htaccess
file anywhere. I was never there. Do I have to create it ?

Here’s the source code of my html file.

Test Form I like Ruby because: It's flexible
It's transparent
It's like Perl
It's fun

Your name:

Here’s the source code of the test Shell file that you just gave(I
changed the shell path as I use ZSH)

#!/bin/zsh
echo “Content-type: text/html”
echo
echo “”
echo “

Blek!


date
echo “”

And Here’s my httpd.conf file

This is the main Apache HTTP server configuration file. It contains

the

configuration directives that give the server its instructions.

See URL:http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2 for detailed information.

In particular, see

URL:http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/directives.html

for a discussion of each configuration directive.

Do NOT simply read the instructions in here without understanding

what they do. They’re here only as hints or reminders. If you are

unsure

consult the online docs. You have been warned.

Configuration and logfile names: If the filenames you specify for many

of the server’s control files begin with “/” (or “drive:/” for Win32),

the

server will use that explicit path. If the filenames do not begin

with “/”, the value of ServerRoot is prepended – so “logs/foo.log”

with ServerRoot set to “/usr/local/apache2” will be interpreted by the

server as “/usr/local/apache2/logs/foo.log”.

ServerRoot: The top of the directory tree under which the server’s

configuration, error, and log files are kept.

Do not add a slash at the end of the directory path. If you point

ServerRoot at a non-local disk, be sure to point the LockFile

directive

at a local disk. If you wish to share the same ServerRoot for

multiple

httpd daemons, you will need to change at least LockFile and PidFile.

ServerRoot “/usr/local/apache2”

Listen: Allows you to bind Apache to specific IP addresses and/or

ports, instead of the default. See also the

directive.

Change this to Listen on specific IP addresses as shown below to

prevent Apache from glomming onto all bound IP addresses.

#Listen 12.34.56.78:80
Listen 80

Dynamic Shared Object (DSO) Support

To be able to use the functionality of a module which was built as a

DSO you

have to place corresponding `LoadModule’ lines at this location so the

directives contained in it are actually available before they are

used.

Statically compiled modules (those listed by `httpd -l’) do not need

to be loaded here.

Example:

LoadModule foo_module modules/mod_foo.so

<IfModule !mpm_netware_module>

If you wish httpd to run as a different user or group, you must run

httpd as root initially and it will switch.

User/Group: The name (or #number) of the user/group to run httpd as.

It is usually good practice to create a dedicated user and group for

running httpd, as with most system services.

User daemon
Group daemon

‘Main’ server configuration

The directives in this section set up the values used by the ‘main’

server, which responds to any requests that aren’t handled by a

definition. These values also provide defaults for

any containers you may define later in the file.

All of these directives may appear inside containers,

in which case these default settings will be overridden for the

virtual host being defined.

ServerAdmin: Your address, where problems with the server should be

e-mailed. This address appears on some server-generated pages, such

as error documents. e.g. [email protected]

ServerAdmin [email protected]

ServerName gives the name and port that the server uses to identify

itself.

This can often be determined automatically, but we recommend you

specify

it explicitly to prevent problems during startup.

If your host doesn’t have a registered DNS name, enter its IP address

here.

#ServerName www.example.com:80

DocumentRoot: The directory out of which you will serve your

documents. By default, all requests are taken from this directory, but

symbolic links and aliases may be used to point to other locations.

DocumentRoot “/usr/local/apache2/htdocs”

Each directory to which Apache has access can be configured with

respect

to which services and features are allowed and/or disabled in that

directory (and its subdirectories).

First, we configure the “default” to be a very restrictive set of

features.

Options FollowSymLinks AllowOverride None Order deny,allow Deny from all

Note that from this point forward you must specifically allow

particular features to be enabled - so if something’s not working as

you might expect, make sure that you have specifically enabled it

below.

This should be changed to whatever you set DocumentRoot to.

<Directory “/usr/local/apache2/htdocs”>
#
# Possible values for the Options directive are “None”, “All”,
# or any combination of:
# Indexes Includes FollowSymLinks SymLinksifOwnerMatch ExecCGI
MultiViews
#
# Note that “MultiViews” must be named explicitly — “Options
All”
# doesn’t give it to you.
#
# The Options directive is both complicated and important. Please
see
# core - Apache HTTP Server Version 2.2
# for more information.
#
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks

#
# AllowOverride controls what directives may be placed in .htaccess 

files.
# It can be “All”, “None”, or any combination of the keywords:
# Options FileInfo AuthConfig Limit
#
AllowOverride None

#
# Controls who can get stuff from this server.
#
Order allow,deny
Allow from all

DirectoryIndex: sets the file that Apache will serve if a directory

is requested.

DirectoryIndex index.html

The following lines prevent .htaccess and .htpasswd files from being

viewed by Web clients.

<FilesMatch “^.ht”>
Order allow,deny
Deny from all
Satisfy All

ErrorLog: The location of the error log file.

If you do not specify an ErrorLog directive within a

container, error messages relating to that virtual host will be

logged here. If you do define an error logfile for a

container, that host’s errors will be logged there and not here.

ErrorLog logs/error_log

LogLevel: Control the number of messages logged to the error_log.

Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit,

alert, emerg.

LogLevel warn

# # The following directives define some format nicknames for use with # a CustomLog directive (see below). # LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}i\"" combined LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b" common
<IfModule logio_module>
  # You need to enable mod_logio.c to use %I and %O
  LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b \"%{Referer}i\" 

"%{User-Agent}i" %I %O" combinedio

#
# The location and format of the access logfile (Common Logfile 

Format).
# If you do not define any access logfiles within a
# container, they will be logged here. Contrariwise, if you do
# define per- access logfiles, transactions will be
# logged therein and not in this file.
#
CustomLog logs/access_log common

#
# If you prefer a logfile with access, agent, and referer 

information
# (Combined Logfile Format) you can use the following directive.
#
#CustomLog logs/access_log combined

# # Redirect: Allows you to tell clients about documents that used to # exist in your server's namespace, but do not anymore. The client # will make a new request for the document at its new location. # Example: # Redirect permanent /foo http://www.example.com/bar
#
# Alias: Maps web paths into filesystem paths and is used to
# access content that does not live under the DocumentRoot.
# Example:
# Alias /webpath /full/filesystem/path
#
# If you include a trailing / on /webpath then the server will
# require it to be present in the URL.  You will also likely
# need to provide a <Directory> section to allow access to
# the filesystem path.

#
# ScriptAlias: This controls which directories contain server 

scripts.
# ScriptAliases are essentially the same as Aliases, except that
# documents in the target directory are treated as applications and
# run by the server when requested rather than as documents sent to
the
# client. The same rules about trailing “/” apply to ScriptAlias
# directives as to Alias.
#
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/forms/cgi-bin/

# # ScriptSock: On threaded servers, designate the path to the UNIX # socket used to communicate with the CGI daemon of mod_cgid. # #Scriptsock logs/cgisock

“/usr/local/apache2/cgi-bin” should be changed to whatever your

ScriptAliased

CGI directory exists, if you have that configured.

<Directory “/usr/local/apache2/htdocs/forms/cgi-bin”>
AllowOverride None
Options ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
Order allow,deny
Allow from all

DefaultType: the default MIME type the server will use for a document

if it cannot otherwise determine one, such as from filename

extensions.

If your server contains mostly text or HTML documents, “text/plain” is

a good value. If most of your content is binary, such as applications

or images, you may want to use “application/octet-stream” instead to

keep browsers from trying to display binary files as though they are

text.

DefaultType text/plain

# # TypesConfig points to the file containing the list of mappings from # filename extension to MIME-type. # TypesConfig conf/mime.types
#
# AddType allows you to add to or override the MIME configuration
# file specified in TypesConfig for specific file types.
#
#AddType application/x-gzip .tgz
#
# AddEncoding allows you to have certain browsers uncompress
# information on the fly. Note: Not all browsers support this.
#
#AddEncoding x-compress .Z
#AddEncoding x-gzip .gz .tgz
#
# If the AddEncoding directives above are commented-out, then you
# probably should define those extensions to indicate media types:
#
AddType application/x-compress .Z
AddType application/x-gzip .gz .tgz

#
# AddHandler allows you to map certain file extensions to 

“handlers”:
# actions unrelated to filetype. These can be either built into the
server
# or added with the Action directive (see below)
#
# To use CGI scripts outside of ScriptAliased directories:
# (You will also need to add “ExecCGI” to the “Options” directive.)
#
#AddHandler cgi-script .cgi

# For type maps (negotiated resources):
#AddHandler type-map var

#
# Filters allow you to process content before it is sent to the 

client.
#
# To parse .shtml files for server-side includes (SSI):
# (You will also need to add “Includes” to the “Options” directive.)
#
#AddType text/html .shtml
#AddOutputFilter INCLUDES .shtml

The mod_mime_magic module allows the server to use various hints from

the

contents of the file itself to determine its type. The MIMEMagicFile

directive tells the module where the hint definitions are located.

#MIMEMagicFile conf/magic

Customizable error responses come in three flavors:

1) plain text 2) local redirects 3) external redirects

Some examples:

#ErrorDocument 500 “The server made a boo boo.”
#ErrorDocument 404 /missing.html
#ErrorDocument 404 “/cgi-bin/missing_handler.pl”
#ErrorDocument 402 http://www.example.com/subscription_info.html

EnableMMAP and EnableSendfile: On systems that support it,

memory-mapping or the sendfile syscall is used to deliver

files. This usually improves server performance, but must

be turned off when serving from networked-mounted

filesystems or if support for these functions is otherwise

broken on your system.

#EnableMMAP off
#EnableSendfile off

Supplemental configuration

The configuration files in the conf/extra/ directory can be

included to add extra features or to modify the default configuration

of

the server, or you may simply copy their contents here and change as

necessary.

Server-pool management (MPM specific)

#Include conf/extra/httpd-mpm.conf

Multi-language error messages

#Include conf/extra/httpd-multilang-errordoc.conf

Fancy directory listings

#Include conf/extra/httpd-autoindex.conf

Language settings

#Include conf/extra/httpd-languages.conf

User home directories

#Include conf/extra/httpd-userdir.conf

Real-time info on requests and configuration

#Include conf/extra/httpd-info.conf

Virtual hosts

#Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf

Local access to the Apache HTTP Server Manual

#Include conf/extra/httpd-manual.conf

Distributed authoring and versioning (WebDAV)

#Include conf/extra/httpd-dav.conf

Various default settings

#Include conf/extra/httpd-default.conf

Secure (SSL/TLS) connections

#Include conf/extra/httpd-ssl.conf

Note: The following must must be present to support

starting without SSL on platforms with no /dev/random equivalent

but a statically compiled-in mod_ssl.

SSLRandomSeed startup builtin SSLRandomSeed connect builtin