The Common Gateway Interface The Common Gateway InterfaceThe current version is CGI/1.1. The differences between 1.1 and 1.0 are minor, see the list.
If you are a veteran of NCSA httpd or some versions of the CERN httpd,
and remember the /htbin stuff, you should read this guide
to upgrading your scripts to CGI
compliance. It's not as painful as you might think.
Once you have a basic idea of what CGI is and what you can use it for, you should read this primer which will help you get started writing your own gateways.
If you are interested in handling the output of HTML forms with your CGI program, you will want to read this guide to handling forms with CGI programs.
Security is a crucial issue when writing CGI programs. Please read these tips on how to write CGI programs which do not allow malicious users to abuse them.
When you get more advanced, you should read the interface specification which will help you utilize CGI to the fullest extent. If you are a server software author, it will help you add CGI compliance to your information server.
We have created an archive of CGI programs on our FTP server. These programs were written by various people around the world in a variety of programming languages. Some of the entries are libraries which may make writing your CGI program easier.
If you would like to submit one of your CGI programs to the archive,
you should first package it with any documentation, copyright notices,
etc. Then, upload it to ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu into the
directory /incoming/cgi and send mail to
robm@ncsa.uiuc.edu with a short description of what the file
is.