Subj : Re: Resume questions, how convey?
To   : comp.programming,comp.lang.java.programmer,comp.lang.lisp
From : Ulrich Hobelmann
Date : Sun Aug 28 2005 07:28 pm

Tim X wrote:
>>  > Having CGI that allows arbitrary Unix runnables
>>> (both native binaries and scripts that use native binaries) is
>>> different from Perl-only WebServers such as Tripod, and
>>> no-CGI-whatsoever WebServers such as Geocities.
>> Here I actually agree.  But most providers these days should provide CGI.
> 
> The point I was making here and which Robert manages to twist by
> judicious quoting was his original assertion that CGI and Unix were
> linked. My point is that CGI is NOT limited to Unix environments. You
> have CGI support with most multi-purpose web servers, like Apache and
> they run on multiple platforms. I never made any statement that all
> web servers provided CGI, only that CGI is not limited to Unix
> environments.

Sure it's not.  But if you want a custom program to run as CGI, you 
might need access to the local environment (compilers, headers, 
libraries) to build your program for that environment.  For those 
servers who run Linux and do allow generic (non-Perl) CGI execution, 
maybe finding a Linux machine somewhere else and doing a static link 
might work.  But then it might not, if the server's kernel interface 
differs slightly for whatever reason.

I just got a small webspace account which gives me ssh (and scp) access 
to a chrooted environment (with very few commands at all, no gcc, not 
even tar and gzip), Apache, PHP, and CGI.  I have to ask how I'm 
supposed to be able to install CGI stuff without any way to compile 
anything...  Maybe I'll just get a different web-package when I need it 
(this one was free for me for this year).

-- 
My ideal for the future is to develop a filesystem remote interface
(a la Plan 9) and then have it implemented across the Internet as
the standard rather than HTML.  That would be ultimate cool.
	Ken Thompson

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