How solve this error

[mukunthini]

I'm new to Perl and am trying to get a simple counter script to work.
It seems to be able to read the counter.dat file ok but I can't get
it to write the new file count to the file. When im executing the
script in command line it's working well and updating the couner.dat
also to new value. but when im running the file in web browser it's
reading the counter value.The counter get's incremented just fine, But
I cannot get the thing to write back out to the counter.dat file with
the new value. My file permissions seem to be ok. It reads the
counter.dat file but will not write to it. and in the error log its
giving the following error
"hi.pl: Cannot open for writing: Permission denied at /var/www/cgi-
bin/hi.pl line 13."
im using Fedora linux, apache 2.0 and perl 5.6.2 .......and mozilla
firefox browser to execute this file
Anybody ever seen this happen?
here is the code:

#!/usr/local/bin/perl
use CGI::Carp qw(fatalsToBrowser);
use CGI qw/:standard/;
print "Content-type: text/html\n\n"; # Web page as default output
open (COUNT, "counter.dat"); # Open for read using COUNT file
handle
$hitcount = <COUNT>; # Read in file to get current count
value
close COUNT; # Close the data file
$hitcount = $hitcount + 1; # Increment count value
open (COUNT, "> counter.dat") or warn "Cannot open $file for writing:
$!"; # Open data file for write
flock(COUNT, 2);
print COUNT "$hitcount"; # Write updated count value
close COUNT; # Close the data file
print "$hitcount"; # Display updated count on the page
exit;

thankx in advance.....!
regards
mukunthini

 

[anno4000]

I'm new to Perl and am trying to get a simple counter script to work.
It seems to be able to read the counter.dat file ok but I can't get
it to write the new file count to the file. When im executing the
script in command line it's working well and updating the couner.dat
also to new value. but when im running the file in web browser it's
reading the counter value.The counter get's incremented just fine, But
I cannot get the thing to write back out to the counter.dat file with
the new value. My file permissions seem to be ok. It reads the
counter.dat file but will not write to it. and in the error log its
giving the following error
"hi.pl: Cannot open for writing: Permission denied at /var/www/cgi-
bin/hi.pl line 13."

In view of that error message, what makes you think your permissions
are ok?

im using Fedora linux, apache 2.0 and perl 5.6.2 .......and mozilla
firefox browser to execute this file
Anybody ever seen this happen?
here is the code:

#!/usr/local/bin/perl

No "strict"? No "warnings"?

use CGI::Carp qw(fatalsToBrowser);
use CGI qw/:standard/;
print "Content-type: text/html\n\n"; # Web page as default output
open (COUNT, "counter.dat"); # Open for read using COUNT file
handle

Why aren't you checking the result of open()?

$hitcount = <COUNT>; # Read in file to get current count
value
close COUNT; # Close the data file
$hitcount = $hitcount + 1; # Increment count value
open (COUNT, "> counter.dat") or warn "Cannot open $file for writing:
$!"; # Open data file for write

Here you *are* checking the success of open(), but the error message
is misleading. You are opening "counter.dat", but in the error
message you refer to "$file", which is nowhere set in your code.

[rest of code snipped]

Correct your code and go back to permission checking, that is
likely the problem.

Anno

 

[mukunthini]

Dear Anno,
Thaks alot for your reply
i've changed the codes as you mentioned, when i run in web browser it
is displaying "1". that is from the last print cmd. under error log /
var/log/httpd the following 2 errors displayed.
[Wed Apr 25 21:31:52 2007] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] [Wed Apr 25
21:31:52 2007] hi.pl: Cannot open counter.dat for reading: No such
file or directory at /var/www/cgi-bin/hi.pl line 7.
[Wed Apr 25 21:31:52 2007] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] [Wed Apr 25
21:31:52 2007] hi.pl: Cannot open counter.dat for writing: Permission
denied at /var/www/cgi-bin/hi.pl line 14.
when i executed from terminal it gives this error " [Wed Apr 25
21:51:00 2007] hi.pl: Cannot open counter.dat for reading: No such
file or directory at hi.pl line 7 " and the new file "counter.dat" is
created under working directory and "1" is stored in that file.
Again if i execute the same form web browser now it is dispalying "2"
and in the log only writing error displayed.so it is reading from the
file, not writing the incremented value. when i execute again the same
value "2" is displaying in web browser.
But when i executing from terminal is working reading and wring new
value to that file.

#!/usr/local/bin/perl
use CGI::Carp qw(fatalsToBrowser);
use CGI qw/:standard/;
print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
use strict;

open (COUNT, "counter.dat") or warn "Cannot open counter.dat for
reading: $!";
my $hitcount = <COUNT>;
close COUNT;

$hitcount = $hitcount + 1;

open (COUNT, "> counter.dat") or warn "Cannot open counter.dat for
writing: $!";
flock(COUNT, 2);
print COUNT "$hitcount";
close COUNT;

print "$hitcount";

exit;

i have given read and write permission to both file and the directory
(cgi-bin and counter.dat) (chmod 777)....

So, is this error happened due to apache configuration mistake? do i
need to change the httpd.conf file?
or is that web browser (mozilla) doesnt have permission to write file?
how can i overcome this? pls help me....

regards,
Mukunthini

 

[anno4000]

Dear Anno,
Thaks alot for your reply

Which reply do you mean? It's been almost three days. In the
meantime, I've read hundreds of questions similar to yours
and answered a few. Pleas quote some context when you reply.

i've changed the codes as you mentioned, when i run in web browser it
is displaying "1". that is from the last print cmd. under error log /
var/log/httpd the following 2 errors displayed.
[Wed Apr 25 21:31:52 2007] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] [Wed Apr 25
21:31:52 2007] hi.pl: Cannot open counter.dat for reading: No such
file or directory at /var/www/cgi-bin/hi.pl line 7.

Okay, so the file doesn't exist where it is expected. You should
check for that anyway and react accordingly.

[Wed Apr 25 21:31:52 2007] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] [Wed Apr 25
21:31:52 2007] hi.pl: Cannot open counter.dat for writing: Permission
denied at /var/www/cgi-bin/hi.pl line 14.

Clearly, whoever is running the web server doesn't have write
access to that directory.

when i executed from terminal it gives this error " [Wed Apr 25
21:51:00 2007] hi.pl: Cannot open counter.dat for reading: No such
file or directory at hi.pl line 7 " and the new file "counter.dat" is
created under working directory and "1" is stored in that file.

Again if i execute the same form web browser now it is dispalying "2"
and in the log only writing error displayed.so it is reading from the
file, not writing the incremented value. when i execute again the same
value "2" is displaying in web browser.
But when i executing from terminal is working reading and wring new
value to that file.

#!/usr/local/bin/perl
use CGI::Carp qw(fatalsToBrowser);
use CGI qw/:standard/;
print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
use strict;

open (COUNT, "counter.dat") or warn "Cannot open counter.dat for
reading: $!";
my $hitcount = <COUNT>;
close COUNT;

$hitcount = $hitcount + 1;

open (COUNT, "> counter.dat") or warn "Cannot open counter.dat for
writing: $!";
flock(COUNT, 2);
print COUNT "$hitcount";
close COUNT;

print "$hitcount";

exit;

i have given read and write permission to both file and the directory
(cgi-bin and counter.dat) (chmod 777)....

A risky thing to do. Apparently it hasn't had the desired effect
because the web server still doesn't have write access.

So, is this error happened due to apache configuration mistake? do i
need to change the httpd.conf file?

That is way off topic in clpm. I don't know.

or is that web browser (mozilla) doesnt have permission to write file?
how can i overcome this? pls help me....

The *browser* has nothing to do with it. CGI happens on the web
server.

You'll have to discuss this in a news group that is about web server
configuration. It's outside Perl territorry.

Anno

 

[Joe Smith]

it gives this error " [Wed Apr 25
21:51:00 2007] hi.pl: Cannot open counter.dat for reading: No such
file or directory at hi.pl line 7.

open (COUNT, "counter.dat") or warn "Cannot open counter.dat for
reading: $!";

You're not using an absolute pathname for the file.
Since the CGI standard does _not_ specify what the current working directory
will be while the script is running, you need to use the full name.

my $file = "/home/mukinthini/public_html/counter.dat";
open my $COUNT,'<',$file or warn "Cannot open $file for reading: $!";

-Joe