Perl script basics

This guide covers the essentials for running Perl scripts on Ruachost servers, including permissions, file extensions, and execution.

File Permissions for Perl Scripts

• Web-accessible scripts: Set permissions to 755 (read, write, execute for user; read and execute for group and others).
• Command-line only scripts: Set permissions to 700 (read, write, execute for user; no permissions for group and others).

Note

If a script needs to write to a file (e.g., guestbooks or bulletin boards), the target file can have 644 permissions (read/write for user, read-only for group and others).

File Extensions

• .cgi – Use for Perl scripts that generate web output accessible to the public.
• .pl – Use for scripts run only from the command line or that do not generate web output.

Perl Version

• To check the Perl version on your server, run perl -v over SSH.
• To check the version from the command line:

perl -v

Path to Perl Executable

• Absolute path: /usr/bin/perl
• /usr/bin is in the default PATH, so you can usually run scripts like this:

perl filename

FTP Transfer Mode

• Always use ASCII mode when uploading Perl scripts via FTP.
• Uploading in binary mode can cause errors such as:

Internal Server Error: Premature End of Script Headers (500)

More Information

For official Perl documentation, visit Perl Docs.