Configure Apache to use Python just like CGI PHP

Question

Hi, I think one commonly known way of adding PHP to an Apache webserver is to configure it like this:

ScriptAlias /php5.3 /usr/local/php5.3/bin
Action application/php5.3 /php5.3/php-cgi
AddType application/php5.3 .php

Now I tried to write a similar configuration for Python:

ScriptAlias /python /usr/bin
Action application/python /python/python
AddType application/python .py

I have a small test script that looks like this:

print "Content-Type: text/html\n\n"
print "Test"

But something seems to be wrong since the apache error log says the following:

Premature end of script headers: python

So my first though was that my python response is not right. But there is the Content-Type and also both linebreaks. Also the output of a similar PHP script called with php-cgi gives exactly the same output.

Also I haven't found a tutorial that shows how to get python working this way. So maybe it is not possible, but then I'm curious why this is the case? Or am I missing something?

Answer 1

" So maybe it is not possible, but then I'm curious why this is the case?"

Correct. It's not possible. It was never intended, either.

Reason 1 - Python is not PHP. PHP -- as a whole -- expects to be a CGI. Python does not.

Reason 2 - Python is not inherently a CGI. It's an interpreter that has (almost) no environmental expectations.

Reason 3 - Python was never designed to be a CGI. That's why Python is generally embedded into small wrappers (mod_python, mod_wsgi, mod_fastcgi) which can encapsulate the CGI environment in a form that makes more sense to a running Python program.

Answer 2

You can use any type of executable as cgi. Your problem is in your apache config, which looks like you just made it up. Check the apache docs for more details, but you don't need the Action and AddType.

ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/var/www/cgi-bin/"

Then drop the following into your cgi-bin:

#!/usr/bin/python
# test.py
print "Content-Type: text/html\n\n"
print "Test"

Make sure it's executable, and see the result at /cgi-bin/test.py

Answer 3

Hi, have a problem in configuring cgi in xampp apache. it display the entire codes of python enterpreter. Can anyone help me please!!!.. tnx :)