What is a CGI bin? (Full Version)

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Ziggyzaz -> What is a CGI bin? (6/10/2003 11:57:18)

i guess the title speaks for itself. Bit I have no Idea what it is, I' ve never had to mess with it before so I' ve never needed to know what it is. Now I have to mess with it and I find myself drawing a blank. So what is a CGI BIN?



Nancy -> RE: What is a CGI bin? (6/10/2003 12:18:53)

Here are two resource links:

http://www.outfront.net/tutorials_02/adv_tech/perl1.htm written by our own abbeyvet - very good information

http://my.execpc.com/~keithp/bdlogcgi.htm - very detailed but clear information

Nancy



bobby -> RE: What is a CGI bin? (6/10/2003 12:19:43)

I' m not a Perl expert, but I' ll take a crack at it... someone else will correct me if I' m wrong...

CGI Bin is short for Common Gateway Interface Binaries... it' s a folder used in Perl (CGI) scripting... typically this directory is used for storing the " program" that is executed from a blog or shopping cart (or other CGI script)


quote:

Now I have to mess with it and I find myself drawing a blank.

Are you learning Perl, or did you purchase/download a Perl script..?



Ziggyzaz -> RE: What is a CGI bin? (6/10/2003 12:31:51)

I took over this website from someone else and the " powers that be" want to change the way it looks. I' m in the process of switching thigs over and i come across this thing that says cgi-bin and i have no idea what it means, or whats in it. I' m working with a school website and we have a lot of stuff in it that I don' t know about yet.



bobby -> RE: What is a CGI bin? (6/10/2003 12:47:30)

It may be empty...

Perl is so popular that a lot of host set up a CGI Bin directory as a default for new web accounts... Parcom does it on all of the accounts I have with them.

If you find a bunch of files in that directory, open them with Notepad and check the commented notes... should give you an idea what' s going on in there...

If not, check for dynamic content on the site... a message board, forum, shopping cart, blog, etc. Chances are it' s probably in Perl/CGI



Ziggyzaz -> RE: What is a CGI bin? (6/10/2003 12:57:39)

Thanks, It is, one of the few things that the other guy told me was to never ever deleat that bin. So judging by the content of the folder it is kinda important.



abbeyvet -> RE: What is a CGI bin? (6/10/2003 13:00:51)

There is a good likelihood that if the site is using forms, and is not using the FP form handler, then whatever form handler it is using will be in the cgi bin.

Best way to find out is to take a peek! FTP to the site, open the cgi-bin and see what' s in there. If you are confused, post a list of the names of files you find in it, it should be possible to make an educated guess at what they do, or even to definitively identify them.



Gil -> RE: What is a CGI bin? (6/10/2003 13:11:01)

quote:

it' s a folder used in Perl (CGI) scripting


Actually a cgi-bin is not restricted to Perl - it can contain any exectuable application - C, C+, Python, etc...



Ziggyzaz -> RE: What is a CGI bin? (6/10/2003 13:12:14)

The two files in there are

htimage.exe and
imagemap.exe

I opened them up and it was really confusing. I had no idea what they were or what they did.


Most of it looks like this:


@ ƒÀ@Pÿ0@ ƒÄjÿ$@ Yƒ& ƒf ‹Æ^ÃU‹ìV‹u…ö‹Æt
‹vPÿ@@ Yëí^]ÃU‹ìW‹}…ÿtLVjÿ(@ ‹ðY…öu+h8@ hè@ h¼@ ÿ4@ ƒÀ@Pÿ0@ ƒÄjÿ$@ Y‹E ‰‹G‰F‰w^ë*ƒ=D1@ tÿu h @ ÿ4@ ƒÀ@Pÿ0@ ƒÄ ÿD@ _]ÃU‹ì‹ESV‹u W‹}Ç;ø‰E„  €? „› €> „’ ÿT@ ƒ8~¾jPÿ @ YYëÿL@ ¾‹ ŠHƒà…Àt¾PÿH@ Y‹Øë¾ÿT@ ƒ8~¾jPÿ @ YYëÿL@ ¾‹ ŠHƒà…À¾tPÿH@ Y+Ø‹ÃuGF;}…`ÿÿÿ3Àë¾¾+Á_^[]ÃU‹ìV‹u‹…ÀtPÿ@@ Yƒ} uƒ& ëOÿu èX Y@Pÿ(@ …ÀY‰u+h`@ hT@ h¼@ ÿ4@ ƒÀ@Pÿ0@ ƒÄjÿ$@



abbeyvet -> RE: What is a CGI bin? (6/10/2003 13:30:06)

MMM. Interesting.

These are apparantly FP files, which have something to do with using image maps on ' older' servers. I have never seen them on an FP site, and from what I am reading it looks as though they are related to older editions of FP - like version prior to FP2000.

There is also quite a bit of stuff flaoting about to suggest that they are not very secure files.

This may help:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/fq00-028.asp

And this:
http://lists.insecure.org/lists/win2ksecadvice/2000/Apr/0040.html

Best advice I can find is that they should be deleted.

Given that this advice was issued years ago, it is a puzzle to me why they are still hanging around a server at all. It would make me question the general level of security/updating etc of that server.

Unless I am getting this completely wrong.



Ziggyzaz -> RE: What is a CGI bin? (6/10/2003 13:42:30)

i think that they files have something to do with the forms that my school uses so i' m just going to leave them there and not worry about them. The reason that I brought this up is because i' m trying to make Pictures randomly cycle through as the page gets refreshed. If any one has a way to do that please let me know.



Gil -> RE: What is a CGI bin? (6/10/2003 14:28:31)

quote:

htimage.exe and
imagemap.exe

I opened them up and it was really confusing. I had no idea what they were or what they did.


Most of it looks like this:


@ ƒÀ@Pÿ0@ ƒÄjÿ$@ Yƒ& ƒf ‹Æ^ÃU‹ìV‹u…ö‹Æt
‹vPÿ@@ Yëí^]ÃU‹ìW‹}…ÿtLVjÿ(@ ‹ðY…öu+h8@ hè@ h¼@ ÿ4@ ƒÀ@Pÿ0@ ƒÄjÿ$@ Y‹E ‰‹G‰F‰w^ë*ƒ=D1@ tÿu h @ ÿ4@ ƒÀ@Pÿ0@ ƒÄ ÿD@ _]ÃU‹ì‹ESV‹u W‹}Ç;ø‰E„ €? „› €> „’ ÿT@ ƒ8~¾jPÿ @ YYëÿL@ ¾‹ ŠHƒà…Àt¾PÿH@ Y‹Øë¾ÿT@ ƒ8~¾jPÿ @ YYëÿL@ ¾‹ ŠHƒà…À¾tPÿH@ Y+Ø‹ÃuGF;}…`ÿÿÿ3Àë¾¾+Á_^[]ÃU‹ìV‹u‹…ÀtPÿ@@ Yƒ} uƒ& ëOÿu èX Y@Pÿ(@ …ÀY‰u+h`@ hT@ h¼@ ÿ4@ ƒÀ@Pÿ0@ ƒÄjÿ$@


Those are C+ files that older versions of FP used- they have nothing to do with forms - I ' believe' the hitimage.exe was a application for a slideshow type of app in older versions of FP.

BTW, that' s what any binary file will look like - Perl doesn' t because it' s not a compiled language.



Gil -> RE: What is a CGI bin? (6/10/2003 14:30:07)

quote:

The reason that I brought this up is because i' m trying to make Pictures randomly cycle through as the page gets refreshed. If any one has a way to do that please let me know.


This will do it: http://www.scriptarchive.com/rand_image.html



bobby -> RE: What is a CGI bin? (6/10/2003 15:05:09)

I knew someone would be along to fill in my blanks [:D]



Ziggyzaz -> RE: What is a CGI bin? (6/10/2003 18:52:14)

i finnally got the random piture thing to work and i' m going to post it in the tips section. thanks for every one' s help it really made my life easyier



gorilla -> RE: What is a CGI bin? (6/11/2003 8:12:35)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Ziggyzaz

The two files in there are

htimage.exe and
imagemap.exe

I opened them up and it was really confusing. I had no idea what they were or what they did.


Most of it looks like this:


@ ƒÀ@Pÿ0@ ƒÄjÿ$@ Yƒ& ƒf ‹Æ^ÃU‹ìV‹u…ö‹Æt
‹vPÿ@@ Yëí^]ÃU‹ìW‹}…ÿtLVjÿ(@ ‹ðY…öu+h8@ hè@ h¼@ ÿ4@ ƒÀ@Pÿ0@ ƒÄjÿ$@ Y‹E ‰‹G‰F‰w^ë*ƒ=D1@ tÿu h @ ÿ4@ ƒÀ@Pÿ0@ ƒÄ ÿD@ _]ÃU‹ì‹ESV‹u W‹}Ç;ø‰E„  €? „› €> „’ ÿT@ ƒ8~¾jPÿ @ YYëÿL@ ¾‹ ŠHƒà…Àt¾PÿH@ Y‹Øë¾ÿT@ ƒ8~¾jPÿ @ YYëÿL@ ¾‹ ŠHƒà…À¾tPÿH@ Y+Ø‹ÃuGF;}…`ÿÿÿ3Àë¾¾+Á_^[]ÃU‹ìV‹u‹…ÀtPÿ@@ Yƒ} uƒ& ëOÿu èX Y@Pÿ(@ …ÀY‰u+h`@ hT@ h¼@ ÿ4@ ƒÀ@Pÿ0@ ƒÄjÿ$@



quote:

BTW, that' s what any binary file will look like - Perl doesn' t because it' s not a compiled language

NEVER open any file that has the .exe extension. That is the compiled code. In other words the code in machine (computer) comprehensible format. You run the risk of badly corrupting the files and making the programs unrunnable.


quote:

Those are C+ files that older versions of FP used- they have nothing to do with forms - I ' believe' the hitimage.exe was a application for a slideshow type of app in older versions of FP.


Yup. And they were a mess ...... ooooooh boy ..... <shudder> </shudder>


Karsten



Ziggyzaz -> RE: What is a CGI bin? (6/11/2003 11:24:14)

I didn' t change any of them and they were only open for a few minutes, I hope I didn' t break anything.[:@]



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