cgi-fcgi(1)						      General Commands Manual						       cgi-fcgi(1)

NAME

       cgi-fcgi - bridge from CGI to FastCGI

SYNOPSIS

       cgi-fcgi -f cmdPath
       cgi-fcgi -bind  -connect connName
       cgi-fcgi -start -connect connName appPath [nServers]
       cgi-fcgi -connect connName appPath [nServers]

DESCRIPTION

       cgi-fcgi  is  a CGI/1.1 program that communicates with an already-running FastCGI application in order to respond to an HTTP request.  cgi-
       fcgi is also capable of starting a FastCGI application.

       When you invoke cgi-fcgi as

	      cgi-fcgi -f cmdPath

       then cgi-fcgi opens the file at cmdPath and reads its arguments from that file.	cgi-fcgi will skip lines that begin with the comment char-
       acter #.  The first non-comment line should contain valid arguments in one of the other three forms.

       The  -f	form  of  cgi-fcgi is designed for Unix systems whose exec(2) family of system calls supports the execution of command interpreter
       files.  For instance, if a file with execute permission contains the text

	      #! /bin/cgi-fcgi -f
	      -connect /httpd/root/sock/app /httpd/root/bin/app

       the effect is the same as executing

	      /usr/bin/cgi-fcgi -connect /httpd/root/sock/app /httpd/root/bin/app

       When you invoke cgi-fcgi as

	      cgi-fcgi -bind -connect connName

       the connName argument is either the path name of a Unix domain listening socket or a host:port pair.  If connName contains a colon,  it	is
       assumed	to  be	host:port.  cgi-fcgi performs a connect(2) using connName.  If the connect succeeds, cgi-fcgi forwards the CGI environment
       variables and stdin data to the FastCGI application, and forwards the stdout and stderr data from  the  application  to	cgi-fcgi's  stdout
       (most  likely  connected  to a Web server).  When the FastCGI application signals the end of its response, cgi-fcgi flushes its buffers and
       exits, and the Web server completes the http response.

       When you invoke cgi-fcgi as

	      cgi-fcgi -start -connect connName appPath [nServers]

       then cgi-fcgi performs the function of starting one or more FastCGI application processes.  The connName argument specifies either the path
       name  of  the Unix domain listening socket that cgi-fcgi will create, or is "localhost:NNN" where NNN is the port number of the TCP/IP lis-
       tening socket that cgi-fcgi will create on the local machine.  (cgi-fcgi will not create processes on  remote  machines.)   After  cgi-fcgi
       creates	the  listening	socket,  it  forks  nServers copies of a process running the executable file appPath.  If nServers is omitted, the
       effect is as if the value "1" had been specified.  The processes share the single listening socket.

       When you invoke cgi-fcgi as

	      cgi-fcgi -connect connName appPath [nServers]

       cgi-fcgi performs -bind and then, if necssary, performs -start and repeats the -bind.  That is, cgi-fcgi first operates as if  the  command
       had been

	      cgi-fcgi -bind -connect connName

       If the connect fails, cgi-fcgi tries

	      cgi-fcgi -start -connect connName appPath [nServers]

       and finally retries

	      cgi-fcgi -bind -connect connName

       In this form, cgi-fcgi does not support TCP/IP connections.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       The usual CGI ones, but they are not interpreted by cgi-fcgi.

SEE ALSO

       FGCI_accept(3).
	(in Debian, /usr/share/doc/libfcgi?/*)

BUGS

       cgi-fcgi doesn't generate useful HTTP responses in case of error, and it generates no response at all when run as start-fcgi.

       On  Digital  UNIX  3.0  systems	the  implementation of Unix Domain sockets does not work when such sockets are stored on NFS file systems.
       Symptom: cgi-fcgi may core dump or may exit with status 38.  Work-around: store sockets in local file systems (/tmp  often  works)  or  use
       TCP/IP.

       On  AIX	systems  the  implementation  of listening sockets does not support socket sharing, and the standard FastCGI application libraries
       can't synchronize access to AIX listening sockets.  Work-around: Don't use the nServers argument on AIX.

HISTORY

       Copyright (c) 1996 Open Market, Inc.  See the file "LICENSE.TERMS" for information on usage and redistribution of this file, and for a DIS-
       CLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES.  $Id: cgi-fcgi.1,v 1.1.1.1 1997/09/16 15:36:26 stanleyg Exp $

								    1997-09-17							       cgi-fcgi(1)