[BioPython] help with cgi in python

Brad Chapman chapmanb@arches.uga.edu
Wed, 27 Mar 2002 15:37:34 -0500


Hi Ravinderl

> I've used perl for cgi in the past. I'm convinced that python is simpler
> to use. So I thought I should switch to python. However, things are not
> working as expected. As an example, I've a file text.cgi which has
> permission for everyone to execute (chmod +x test.cgi). 
[....]

> Now when click submit, I get the following message:
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> Internal Server Error
[....]
> More information about this error may be available in the server error
> log.

You'll need more information to figure out what the problem is. As the
error suggests, I'd check in the error log, which is normally something
like /var/log/httpd-error.log. If you do a 'tail -f' on this file and
then run your cgi script, you will hopefully see a more helpful error
message about what is causing the problem.

With my limited experience with CGI script, this type of error is
normally caused by a server configuration problem than by python itself.
You might not have permission to execute CGI scripts in that directory,
in which case you'll need to edit the httpd.conf file to give the
directory Execute CGI permissions.

Hope this helps you track down the problem.
Brad