[Slightly OT] Setting up WinXP as webserver to test RunRev CGI

[Dave Cragg]

At 7:31 am +0200 4/7/04, Terry Vogelaar (de Mare) wrote:
>Hi,
>
>I have a Mac OS X machine set up to test my RunRev CGI scipts. It
>was quite easy to set up the build in server and install the Darwin
>engine on it, mainly thanks to the great tutorial made by Jacque.
>For the website I cooperate with some WinXP users. Does this
>platform have a build in webserver that can use an engine of RunRev
>as a CGI? Or should I let them install Apache?
>Any tips?


Late reply, but it may be useful.

You can install IIS on XP. I don't think it's installed by default 
but it's on the CD (on XP Pro at least).

I've been running CGI scripts with IIS on XP for a long time with 
very few problems. I use an older Metacard engine (cmc.exe), but the 
Rev engine specifically for Windows CGI scripts should be fine. You 
can get it here:

    <http://www.runrev.com/downloads/engines/2.0/cgi/>

You can place the engine anywhere on the XP hard drive. You then just 
have to configure IIS to link the extension you use for the cgi 
scripts to the Rev cgi engine. (In my case, I use ".mt") You do this 
in the IIS administration utility. The general procedure is like this 
(probably useful to read the online docs for IIS configuration before 
starting):

   -- In the IIS Admin Utility, create a virtual directory for placing 
your cgi scripts.
   -- In the Admin Utility, select the virtual directory and select 
properties (File menu or right click??)
   -- Set the Execute Permissions for this directory to "Scripts and 
Executables"
   -- Click the Configuration button (You will se a list of mappings 
between file extensions and executables)
   -- Click Add
   -- Enter the path to the executable (or use Browse) and the 
extension of your scripts (e.g. .mt). IMPORTANT After the executable 
path add " %s %s". For example, in my case the path is: 
F:\mc_cgi\cmc.exe %s %s

Then you're basically done. Just put your cgi scripts in the Virtual 
folder, and that should be it.

Two points:

1.  The cgi scripts under IIS don't need the #! line that you use 
under Linux/OS X (but will cause no problem if present)

2.  I've found it useful to add a short wait at the end of the 
startup handler, like this:

     on startup
       ## usual cgi stuff
       wait 20 milliseconds
     end startup

Cheers
Dave