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CGI and Scripts

Overview

You are allowed to use custom CGI scripts with all our hosting services. Please note we do not provide free technical support for custom scripts, however, our technical experts are available at our usual hourly rate to solve any technical problems that you may have. A separate CGI-BIN directory will be provided for each Web hosting account. The process of putting new scripts on the server involves two steps:

1. Upload the script to the server
2. Notify us to enable the usage of the script

Scripts can be written in C/C++ or Perl. We suggest that you develop the script on your own machine, test it thoroughly and upload only after you are sure that it performs the way it should.

The environment custom CGI scripts run in

We run all CGI scripts through a CGIWrap program that enforces strong security on each CGI script. If you need to execute external programmes, they are located in the '/usr/local/bin' subdirectory.

If the script does not work

First, go back to your development machine and try to regenerate the problem and fix it there. If that fails you can contact us for additional help. Our engineers will examine the script to try and locate the problem. If the problem is serious (i.e. it cannot be solved in ten to fifteen minutes) our engineers will stop working on it and notify you. You can choose to have our engineers debug the script completely for a fee of £ 50 per hour.

System CGI scripts

Some CGI scripts are preinstalled with our hosting accounts or we can install them for you at no additional charge. At the moment, the FormMail script is available. We are working on adding others and we welcome your suggestions.