UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I wish to be able to give to a client the opportunity to :

0) Turn one of my ubuntu computers into a webserver
1) See a webpage after visiting a url where an external user/client can set a couple of variables (e.g. Number1= ?, Number2=?)
2) By pressing "run" the program runs on my machine
3) On my machine I could or not have a queue system. Some kind or protection should stop the client using a wget like tool to download files and programs on his computer

I have some experience with webpy and I had it working for internal networks. I am after a solution for C/C++ and bash. The framework needs to be able to be used from outside the local network

If you install Apache, you can put your scripts in a cgi-bin directory. When the client accesses www.mywebsite.com/cgi-bin/myscript.sh?var1=a&var2=b&var3=cv, it will run your script with QUERY_STRING set to "var1=a&var2=b&var3=c" which you can process to get your variables out of and run your script accordingly. It is possible to have these variables fed into it via an HTTP web form which they can type into.

The output will end up in his web browser, or if you specify, as a file.

They call this process CGI, or "common gateway interface".