Forbidden: CGI Programming With Apache and Perl on Mac OS X - perl

Question

I'd like to do the CGI programming with Apache and Perl in Max OS X 10.8.5.
I followed the guide : CGI Programming With Apache and Perl on Mac OS X. The steps are:
edit /etc/apache2/httpd.conf, uncomment the following:
AddHandler cgi-script .cgi .pl
AddType text/html .shtml
AddOutputFilter INCLUDES .shtml
edit /etc/apache2/userName.conf:
Options MultiViews Indexes SymLinksIfOwnerMatch Includes ExecCGI
DirectoryIndex index.html index.cgi
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
start apache:
sudo apachectl restart
put a cgi file into the folder: ~/Sites. I have update the privilege of test.cgi:
sudo chmod 755 test.cgi
That's all I have done. However, when I visit :
ht tp://localhost/~userName/test.cgi, the result:
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /~username/test.cgi on this server.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
I try to put a html into the ~/Sites, and it can be shown correctly. It seems there is something wrong with the cgi configurations, but I can't find it. Could anyone give some guides?
thanks!

Answer 1

The following steps worked for me on High Sierra running Apache 2.4
( Based on the following excellent tutorial: http://www.cgi101.com/book/connect/mac.html , updated with additional steps for version differences)
1) Move the file to:
/Library/WebServer/CGI-Executables
2) Verify that the file has execution permissions:
ls -l /Library/WebServer/CGI-Executables
If not use:
chmod -x /Library/WebServer/CGI-Executables/myfile.cgi
3) Uncomment the following lines in /etc/apache2/httpd.conf
AddHandler cgi-script .cgi .pl
AddType text/html .shtml
AddOutputFilter INCLUDES .shtml
LoadModule cgi_module libexec/apache2/mod_cgi.so
4) Also change the Directory "/Library/WebServer/CGI-Executables" stanza to:
<Directory "/Library/WebServer/CGI-Executables">
AllowOverride None
Options ExecCGI
Require all granted
</Directory>
5) Then restart Apache:
sudo apachectl -k restart
Almost with every new Mac OS version, the changes will become lost and you will need to redo the work, and even do different steps to fix it. Your best friend are the Apache logs located in /var/log/apache2/ (/var/log/apache2/error_log)

Answer 2

The OSX Apache serves "two" servers. One public directly for the localhost and one for each user. Check out the configuration of your user directories in /etc/apache2. There is a users directory having each OSX user on that machine a own configuration like that:
<Directory "/Users/markus/Sites/">
Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks Includes ExecCGI
AllowOverride All
Allow from all
</Directory>
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName sencha
DocumentRoot "/Users/markus/Sites/sencha"
</VirtualHost>
Also make sure, the userprofiles are enabled in the httpd.conf
# User home directories
Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-userdir.conf

Answer 3

The steps in CGI Programming With Apache and Perl on Mac OS X are correct. If restarting apache does not work, restart the mac! And Now I can use the cgi!