I cannot answer these questions, as I am facing exactly the same situation and have exactly the same set of question myself -- so I will be monitoring closely for any answers!
However, as per CGI.pm, I do know that on Tripod/Lycos accts, they install CGI.pl and a number of Tripod*.pl modules for you (optionally). If they do any registration or just copy the files, I don't know, but the text of these install pages indicates that they are just copied to /cgi-bin, nothing more. My new (DomainAvenue*) host also supports PHP4, which I am just now looking at. Quite frankly, for what I want to do (and am currently doing using SSI) this looks like a better initial choice -- I may need additional Perl scripts, but with the MySQL support, more C-like syntax, scripts embedded in HTML & Perl-like regexp support, this LOOKS more accessible to me (with a C++, Java, 4-GL programming background, Win-centric & lite on Unix shell scripts & a lot of SSI-enabled HTML pages to enhance incrementally.) Also, if you're using (client-side) Win (or Linux or Mac, I guess), download ActiveState's Perl && Komodo (v1.1 is free for edu / learning / home purposes). Komodo is a Win IDE w/ Perl / PHP / more develop / debugging support. I just dl'd and, initially, it looks GREAT!! http://www.activestate.com *DomainAvenue.com offers: $35/yr w/ domain name/10Mg/SSI/Perl/PHP4/5-POP3/MySQL & unlim bandwidth/email aliases/more -- great deal!!! Get one! Tell Carol in support I sent you. http://www.domainavenue.com. *BTW: I am not affiliated in any way with DomainAvenue.com or it's parent Wyith, Inc. -- I am just a very happy customer who wants to spread the word, since they've gone the extra mile (or 100) to support me with <?stupidly simple?> questions similar to these. For example, at my request (to lessen MY workload) they enabled SSI for all .html files on all accounts (in addition to .shtml), simply because MY current pages expect it. They've also made numerous changes to the account management pages at my specific request and are working on more right now. And they did it FAST. They are great! David Van Camp Software Development Consulting Patterns, Reuse, Software Process Improvement http://www.davidvancamp.com Visit the OO Pattern Digest! A catalog of condensed patterns, books and related resources http://patterndigest.tripod.com Moving soon to: http://patterndigest.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Brooking" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Beginners CGI" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2002 4:17 PM Subject: Perl CGI with ISP - advice? > > Hi, > > I'm writing a Perl-based system to allow simple site content management through web forms. I'm a relative beginner to both Perl and CGI, although I have much experience with C, Visual Basic, and relational database programming. The system I'm writing is targeted to non-profits and small businesses, the kinds of outfits which typically will have sites hosted by an ISP, not on their own hardware with their own people to administer it. So my software will need to be (1) small, and (2) installable to a virtual domain cgi-bin path by FTP with normal owner permissions, not system admin and/or shell access. I've found that this cuts down on available technology quite dramatically. > > One hesitation I have is that most Perl modules assume that you can run an install procedure to "install" the module in your system. If an outfit has only FTP access to its virtual domain, not shell access or sysadm privilege, the only thing you can do is copy the module's files over from some other place you've installed them (such as my PC's hard drive). This seems to be working with two of the modules I've used so far (HTML::Template and AnyData::CSV), but I'm hesitant to rely too much on a lot of them. Obviously, you run a risk if a module has platform-specific functionality. I'm particularly shy of CGI.pm, both due to size and also uncertainty of if it can be "installed" by a simple file copy. > > I'd appreciate any advice anyone could give on the difficulties I might encounter in this endeavor, in particular module size and ability to install on an ISP-hosted virtual domain by FTP alone. Should I be convincing the ISP to install the modules in their /site/lib instead, rather than us putting them in our virtual domain? Is CGI.pm recommended in this situation? Any other issues you would foresee me having? (I already know I'll have to think through security at some point.) Thanks in advance for any replies. > > - John Brooking > > > > --------------------------------- > Do You Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
