Why doesn't my Perl script start under FastCGI?

Question

I am getting this error in error_log one of my Perl CGI application. I am pretty sure I haven't changed my script at all and all of a sudden i have started getting this error.

This is what I see in error_log:

[Wed Jul  8 15:18:20 2009] [warn] FastCGI: server "/local/web/test/cgi-bin/test.pl" (pid 17033)
    terminated by calling exit with status '255'
[Wed Jul  8 15:18:20 2009] [warn] FastCGI: server "/local/web/test/cgi-bin/test.pl"
    has failed to remain running for 30 seconds given 3 attempts, its restart interval has been backed off to 600 seconds

_{^{(The snippet was edited for clarity)}}

Also, the AddHandler line for FastCGI exists in the config file.

Can any tell me the possible reasons for this error? There is nothing recorded in Apache logs.

Answer 1

Here are two tips that might help (assuming your app is respecting the fastcgi protocol): 1. try to run the app in command line, this prove that you have execute bit and no compile errors in code. 2. check suexec.log of your apache server, this might show user/group or other errors related to your script.

Answer 2

You could try redirecting the STDERR from your Perl script, something like:

BEGIN { open STDERR, '>stderr.log' }

If your stderr.log file doesn't get created at all, it means that the script didn't even get executed, likely a suexec/permissions problem. Otherwise, you should have whatever went wrong with the Perl script in that file.