First - I have yet to see the apachectl work - I always get an error
% ./apachectl status
./apachectl: lynx: not found
But, it always starts up the web server from the startup script.
What is your OS?
What version of Apache are you trying to use?
As far as the cgi - you should have a httpd.conf file that you would set the cgi directory - (httpd.conf is in /usr/local/etc on my system ). You set the ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/yourdirectorypath/cgi-bin/".
You will also find two lines:
# "/var/apache/cgi-bin" should be changed to whatever your
# ScriptAliased CGI directory exists, if you have that configured.
and then you set your cgi directory again:
<Directory "/disk/bang/web/cgi-bin">
AllowOverride None
Options None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
Check the faq on
www.apache.org for more info.