🚀 go-pugleaf

Hi, there !

Frank C. wrote:
> 
> I am almost ready to launch my own home page which contains an
> interactive Web spot requiring a Perl script. However my system
> administrator will not accept Perl because of the alleged security
> problems. My own research reveals that most interactive Web pages -
> approximately 80% - use Perl scripts to execute them. Thus I require
> advice on the following matters:
> 
> 1. What security hazard does Perl actually pose?
> 
> 2. How do I rectify the problem i.e. where can I get a suitable CGI
>    script?
> 
> 3. Is there anybody out there who is prepared to assist me in putting
>    together a CGI-bin script for a fee? I live in Melbourne, Australia.

 The system administrator at our local computing center also doesn't
 want users to have executed their own scripts. One problem is that
 those scripts need CPU sources (maybe somebody wants to serve
 raytraced images online ...). Another (maybe more important) fact
 is security. As an example, if you write a script using a c-shell
 that executes 'finger', you might write somthing like

      system("finger $user_input");

 But a clever remote user could type not only "asterix" to finger
 that user, but "asterix; ls -l" which will execute 'ls -l', too !
 (And 'ls -l' is rather harmless ...).

 That's why often only experienced users who know about certain
 traps are allowed to run CGI scripts on a site.

 The only solution might be to become a system administrator of
 yourself ... which I'll do in a few days ...   ;-)

 If you can convince your system admin about your programming
 experience this group may be a good place to learn about perl
 (but please post perl-related questions - there are cgi-groups,
 too).


 Bye, Eike

=====================================================================
 Eike Grote, Theoretical Physics IV, University of Bayreuth, Germany
            email : eike.grote@theo.phy.uni-bayreuth.de
         URL : http://btrzxa.fddi.uni-bayreuth.de/~btpa25/
=====================================================================