[06] MY WEBSITE DOESN'T WORK! HOW CAN I TROUBLESHOOT ON MY OWN? OK! Take a deep breath and relax. In *most* cases you can solve any issues on your own without bothering anyone. The main utility for setting up and maintaining your vanity URL at SDF is the 'mkhomepg' command. To setup your URL do the following: 1. Run 'mkhomepg' to setup your html directory. a. Use FTP or other transfer method to place your html files in that directory. Please note that your must have a minimum of an 'index.*' file! 2. Run 'mkhomepg -p' to set proper permissions 3. Run 'mkhomepg -a' to add your vanity URL (keep in mind this takes just under 2 hrs to update). 'mkhomepg -p' is your friend. Anytime you add new files, run this command to ensure appropriate file permissions. Its good to use 'ping' and 'lynx' to check your URL locally. Sometimes DNS updates do not propogate instantly. CGI permissions? Premature end of headers? 550 Internal Server Error? D O N T P A N I C Are you an ARPA member? To use 'python', 'perl' and a few others as CGI you must be an ARPA member. You should see permission denied in the logfiles if you attempt to use the programs in your CGIs. You may use any shell, sed, awk and others for CGIs. Check the FAQ:<WEB> answer in regards to location of logfiles. A common problem is the use of the incorrect location of the executable for the CGI. For instance: #!/usr/bin/perl is a common misconception. Use 'locate' or 'whereis' to find the actual location of the perl, python, lisp, awk, ksh or any other program you wish to use for your CGI. Also, your CGIs will use a uniform file extension of '.cgi' Again, use 'mkhomepg -p' to set proper file permissions. Verify the error or log messages in both the 'errlog' and 'suexec.log' files. Also, keep in mind there is no restriction for CGIs to exist in a 'cgi-bin' .. However, you may only run CGIs that exist on the /www mounted filesystems. These CGIs can not be symbolic links in or outside of the /www mounted filesystems. Sometimes embedded control characters (such as ^M) can cause problems in CGI execution. You can use the 'fromdos' command to strip these characters out.