🚀 go-pugleaf

	You could also start up your own web server, if you have access to do 
that.  just make sure your port number is > 1024.  I'd suggest something with 5
digits :)
	There are security problems, because everything that is done by the
cgi program is done as the webserver user (there *are* ways around this, 
though) and on alot of systems, that's user 'nobody'...
	Brian Wheeler
	bdwheele@indiana.edu

In article <3186314C.41C6@theo.phy.uni-bayreuth.de>, 
eike.grote@theo.phy.uni-bayreuth.de says...
>
>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/
>=====================================================================