How to set up Python as a CGI module in Apache on Arch Linux (Manjaro, BlackArch)

Setting up Python CGI for a single directory

Create a directory /srv/http/cgi-bin/ - this is where the Python scripts will be located:

sudo mkdir /srv/http/cgi-bin/

Open the /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf file – the web server configuration file:

sudo gedit /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

Find a group of lines:

<Directory "/srv/http/cgi-bin">
    AllowOverride None
    Options None
    Require all granted
</Directory>

And replace it with:

<Directory "/srv/http/cgi-bin">
    AllowOverride None
    Options ExecCGI
    Require all granted
</Directory>

Note: if you do not see the difference, then pay attention to the “Options” directive – the “ExecCGI” option has been added.

Find a group of lines

<IfModule mpm_prefork_module>
	#LoadModule cgi_module modules/mod_cgi.so
</IfModule>

And replace with

<IfModule mpm_prefork_module>
	LoadModule cgi_module modules/mod_cgi.so
</IfModule>

That is, uncomment the line.

Notice the line

ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/srv/http/cgi-bin/"

It is not necessary to change it, but if you wish, you can use any other folder instead of /srv/http/cgi-bin/, you just need to create a new folder and specify it with this directive instead of /srv/http/cgi-bin/.

Close the file.

Restart the web server for the changes to take effect:

sudo systemctl restart httpd.service

Create file /srv/http/cgi-bin/test.py:

sudo gedit /srv/http/cgi-bin/test.py

Copy the following content to this file:

#!/usr/bin/python3

print ("Content-type: text/html")
print ("")
print ("")
print ("<html><head>")
print ("")
print ("</head><body>")
print ("Hello.")
print ("</body></html>")

Make this file executable:

sudo chmod +x /srv/http/cgi-bin/test.py

Open http://localhost/cgi-bin/test.py in a web browser

If everything is configured correctly, then you should see a line in the web browser

Hello.

Setting up Python CGI for the entire web server

Open the /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf file – the web server configuration file:

sudo gedit /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

Find a group of lines

<IfModule mpm_prefork_module>
	#LoadModule cgi_module modules/mod_cgi.so
</IfModule>

And replace with

<IfModule mpm_prefork_module>
	LoadModule cgi_module modules/mod_cgi.so
</IfModule>

That is, uncomment the line.

Then find the line

Options Indexes FollowSymLinks

and add “ExecCGI” to it. You should get the following line (ATTENTION: your set of options may be different):

Options Indexes FollowSymLinks ExecCGI

Now find the line:

#AddHandler cgi-script .cgi

Uncomment it, that is, remove the # symbol at the beginning of the line and add .py to the end of the line. The new line will look something like this:

AddHandler cgi-script .cgi .py

Close the file.

Restart the web server for the changes to take effect:

sudo systemctl restart httpd.service

Create file /srv/http/test.py:

sudo gedit /srv/http/test.py

Copy the following content to this file:

#!/usr/bin/python3

print ("Content-type: text/html")
print ("")
print ("")
print ("<html><head>")
print ("")
print ("</head><body>")
print ("Hello.")
print ("</body></html>")

Make this file executable:

sudo chmod +x /srv/http/cgi-bin/test.py

Open http://localhost/test.py in a web browser

If everything is configured correctly, then you should see a line in the web browser

Hello.

How to set up Python as a CGI module in Apache on Arch Linux (Manjaro, BlackArch)

Setting up Python CGI for a single directory

Setting up Python CGI for the entire web server

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