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PCG Hosting CGI General Instructions

Please read the following instructions and the disclaimers very carefully. We've attempted to be as explicit as possible in order to anticipate any questions you may have during this process.

Important: We allow custom CGI-BIN scripts to be placed in each user's "cgi-bin" directory for the use of clients EXCLUSIVELY on PCG Hosting's WWW servers and networks. Any violation of this policy will necessitate our having to notify you that we are forced to remove the script from the CGI-BIN directory.

Instructions for setting up custom CGI-BIN scripts:

1. You may use one of our prepared template CGI-BIN scripts, or submit your own. We encourage you to use prepared scripts whenever possible. We are always taking steps to make sure that the most commonly requested scripts are available in prepared form. We encourage our clients to suggest additional scripts to be placed within the templates section.
   
   
2. If there is a problem on a script that you submit, and it causes very significant problems on the system (overloads, perpetual processes, etc...), the offending script will be removed immediately and you will be notified about its removal. Your local CGI-BIN access may be revoked if problems or mishaps with the system become habitual. Please see our Disclaimers section.
   
   

3. All scripts for your Web site should be submitted to your "cgi-bin" directory located in your home directory. The proper way to reference any script from within your HTML forms is:

   /cgi-bin/scriptname

4. Be aware that text files (Perl scripts) must be in a Unix or similar text file (ASCII) format. DOS, Macintosh, and Unix text files all have differences which may cause your scripts to have additional characters and therefore not to work.NotePad for Windows and Windows95/98 and Alpha Text Editor for Macintosh are recommended for customizing Perl scripts and saving the files out to ASCII text format.
   
   

5. Upload your script via ASCII transfer mode to your cgi-bin subdirectory on your Web account.

6. Using a program such as WS_FTP or FTP Voyager, you will need to make your new script executable by running a chmod command. After connected to your site through WS_FTP, select the file that you want to make executable, then right-click and select "chmod (UNIX)". Then adjust the permissions so that they look like:

7. If you receive an error, check first to make sure that the script is executable. You can do this by looking at the permissions on the files in your FTP program. Some FTP client programs may or may not feature the option to view file permissions. We will always attempt to reference shareware/freeware software that supports these features.

8. If for some reason you just can't get your scripts to work, all requests for assistance should be sent to cgi@pcghosting.com. Please note that PCG Hosting cannot provided extensive support for third-party scripts. If the problem is not a "quick fix" and it is determined to not be a PCG Hosting problem, you may be charged for the support (we will notify you in advance).