Uploading Files Using CGI and Perl

Ramzi · Mar 8, 2007 14:42

I have a permissions problem. Anytime I try to create a file through a cgi script running in a browser, I get a permissions error. If I simply do a

open my $outputFile, ">test.txt" or die "Can't open file $!\n";

It dies and returns
Can't open file Permission Denied.

How can I set the permissions correctly?

**epix** · Mar 21, 2007 17:44

I can't get the temp file to be saved into the folder I created for uploads.

here's the errors I'm getting:

Code:

[Wed Mar 21 19:09:43 2007] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] binmode() on closed filehandle UPLOADFILE at C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/cgi-bin/upload.cgi line 16., referer: http://localhost/upload.htm
[Wed Mar 21 19:09:43 2007] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] print() on closed filehandle UPLOADFILE at C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/cgi-bin/upload.cgi line 20, <fh00001avatar.gif> line 1., referer: http://localhost/upload.htm
[Wed Mar 21 19:09:43 2007] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] File does not exist: C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/htdocs/uploads/avatar.gif, referer: http://localhost/cgi-bin/upload.cgi

Everything else is working fine, the file's just not getting saved correctly, which causes the third error, and because of that it won't display on the confirmation Web page.

I hope this isn't dead.

**elated** · Mar 21, 2007 21:48

The obvious things to check are (a) that the path to your uploads folder is correct in your script, and (b) that your webserver user has permission to create and modify files in the uploads folder.

Matt

**epix** · Mar 22, 2007 10:57

I'm running apache 2.2 on a windows machine. How would I go about changing the permissions?

Or is it possible to use chmod, or something similar, to allow this script only access to the folder? If it is, how?

alexgein · Mar 22, 2007 21:43

chmown the directory to be the same user/group as your perl files are run as. In most cases its the same user as apache (ie. apache/apache).

then tighten the directory so it can only be written to by that user.

**epix** · Mar 23, 2007 12:47

I put it on my online server, cause I wasn't sure how to do a chown with apache on windows. I'm not getting any errors now, but it's not working. The thank you page is pointing to the right directory and everything when you look at the images properties so I'm pretty sure all the directories are right. Nothing is being put in the upload folder though.

here's my directory structure:
/public_html/perupload.html
/public_html/cgi-bin/upload.cgi
/public_html/upload/filename

and here's the script as it is on the server:

Code:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use CGI;

$upload_dir = "/upload/";

$query = new CGI;

$filename = $query->param("photo");
$email_address = $query->param("email_address");
$filename =~ s/.*[\/\\](.*)/$1/;
$upload_filehandle = $query->upload("photo");

open (UPLOADFILE, ">$upload_dir/$filename");

binmode UPLOADFILE;

while ( <$upload_filehandle> )
{
   print UPLOADFILE;
}

close UPLOADFILE;

print $query->header ( );
print <<FINISH;

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Thanks!</TITLE>
</HEAD>

<BODY>

<P>Thanks for uploading your photo!</P>
<P>Your email address: $email_address</P>
<P>Your photo:</P>
<img src="/upload/$filename" border="0">

</BODY>
</HTML>

FINISH

and here's a test url:
http://www.heresjonnie.com/perlupload.htm

**KevinR** · Mar 23, 2007 13:01

this:

$upload_dir = "/upload/";

should be:

$upload_dir = "public_html/upload";

or whatever the correct full path to the upload folder is. Also note you don't need the trailing slash since you are adding it in later:

open (UPLOADFILE, ">$upload_dir/$filename");

all open functions should be checked for success or failure too using "die".

**epix** · Mar 24, 2007 10:27

I've made those changes and all of the directory/file permissions are correct, but still no dice.

I added the "die" to the end of the open function and it's causing an internal server error.

**KevinR** · Mar 24, 2007 12:28

try this:

Code:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use CGI;
use CGI::Carp qw/fatalsToBrowser/;

$upload_dir = "$ENV{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/upload";

$query = new CGI;

$filename = $query->param("photo");
$email_address = $query->param("email_address");
$filename =~ s/.*[\/\\](.*)/$1/;
$upload_filehandle = $query->upload("photo");

open (UPLOADFILE, ">$upload_dir/$filename") or die "Can't open: $upload_dir: $!";

binmode UPLOADFILE;

while ( <$upload_filehandle> )
{
   print UPLOADFILE;
}

close UPLOADFILE;

print $query->header();
print <<FINISH;

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Thanks!</TITLE>
</HEAD>

<BODY>

<P>Thanks for uploading your photo!</P>
<P>Your email address: $email_address</P>
<P>Your photo:</P>
<img src="../upload/$filename" border="0">

</BODY>
</HTML>

FINISH

**epix** · Mar 24, 2007 19:06

You rock dude. ROCK!

I'm guessing it's the "$ENV{DOCUMENT_ROOT}" bit that helped out.
What's the use "CGI::Carp qw/fatalsToBrowser/;" part.

**KevinR** · Mar 24, 2007 20:22

Originally Posted by epix

You rock dude. ROCK!

I'm guessing it's the "$ENV{DOCUMENT_ROOT}" bit that helped out.
What's the use "CGI::Carp qw/fatalsToBrowser/;" part.

http://perldoc.perl.org/CGI/Carp.html

$ENV{DOCUMENT_ROOT} is the path to the root directory, it was worth a try.

kaosfalco · Apr 12, 2007 13:44

he looks like manson!

**heirlooms** · May 11, 2007 09:33

I have been following the script laid out in this forum and have set my directory at
http://www.example.ca/cgi-bin/upload.cgi
but I keep getting an error

The requested URL /cgi-bin/example.ca//upload.cgi was not found on this server. can anyone help?

**KevinR** · May 11, 2007 11:03

this is not a good path:

/cgi-bin/example.ca//upload.cgi

is that what you have in your form tag in the action attribute?

<form action=?>

change it to:

<form action="cgi-bin/upload.cgi">

casy · Jun 5, 2007 09:22

When I submit the form, I got an internal error. I have no clue y I got that, maybe becuz the upload_dir? My url is somethin like: http://lab.xx.yy.zz/~myname/upload.html
, and I put the .pl in http://lab.xx.yy.zz/~myname/cgi-bin/upload.pl, I would like to upload the file under the ./cgi-bin/scheduleFile. Could you plz tell me what should I put in the upload_dir? Thank you so much.

**elated** · Jun 29, 2007 00:22

Casy, try KevinR's (excellent) code, posted on Mar 25, 2007 03:28. That should at least tell you what the exact problem is.

**KevinR** · Jun 29, 2007 00:33

I believe everyone see the times/dates in posts a little different, so it's probably better to reference the post number. I think you are refering to post #134

**elated** · Jun 29, 2007 00:44

Oops! Thanks Kevin

**KevinR** · Jun 30, 2007 03:08

Here is an uploader script that is more robust than the one discussed in Matt Doyles article: "Uploading Files Using CGI and Perl". I would urge anyone that needs a basic file uploader to use this script instead of the script in the article. It can be used as a drop-in replacement for Matts script.

Code Perl:

#!/usr/bin/perl -T
 
use strict;
use warnings;
use CGI;
use CGI::Carp qw/fatalsToBrowser/;
use File::Basename;
 
# set the maximum limit for file uploads  
$CGI::POST_MAX = 1024 * 5000; #adjust as needed (1024 * 5000 = 5MB)
 
# change to 1 (one) to disable file uploads 
$CGI::DISABLE_UPLOADS = 0; #1 disables uploads, 0 enables uploads
 
my $query = new CGI;
 
unless ($CGI::VERSION >= 2.47) { 
   print $query->header(),
         $query->start_html(),
         'Your version of CGI.pm is too old. You must have verison 2.47 or higher to use this script.',
         $query->end_html;   
   exit(0);
}
 
my $upload_dir = "/home/mywebsite/htdocs/upload";
 
# a list of valid characters that can be in filenames
my $filename_characters = 'a-zA-Z0-9_.-';
 
my $file = $query->param("photo");
my $email_address = $query->param("email_address");
 
# get the filename and the file extension
# this could be used to filter out unwanted filetypes
# see the File::Basename documentation for details
my ($filename,undef,$ext) = fileparse($file,qr{\..*});
 
# convert spaces to underscores "_"
$filename =~ tr/ /_/;
 
# remove illegal characters
$filename =~ s/[^$filename_characters]//g;
 
# append extension to filename
$filename .= $ext;
 
# satisfy taint checking
if ($filename =~ /^([$filename_characters]+)$/) {
   $filename = $1;
}
else{
   print $query->header(),
         $query->start_html(),
         'The filename is not valid. Filenames can only contain these characters: $filename_characters',
         $query->end_html;
   exit(0);
}  
 
my $upload_filehandle = $query->upload("photo");
 
 
open (UPLOADFILE, ">$upload_dir/$filename") or die "$!";
binmode UPLOADFILE;
while ( <$upload_filehandle> ) {
   print UPLOADFILE;
}
close UPLOADFILE;
 
print $query->header(),
      $query->start_html(-title=>'Upload Successful'),
      $query->p('Thanks for uploading your photo!'),
      $query->p("Your email address: $email_address"),
      $query->p("Your photo $filename:"),
      $query->img({src=>"../uploads/$filename",alt=>''}),
      $query->end_html;

**elated** · Jun 30, 2007 17:27

Nice one Kevin - looks good

Hmm, maybe I should update the article a bit! Certainly using CGI::Carp would help to reduce the number of questions in this topic

Matt

**KevinR** · Jun 30, 2007 20:32

Hi Matt,

I did not realize that "Elated" was you Matt. I really think it would be a good service to the readers/users to update the article and the script.

Kevin

YB · Jul 27, 2007 02:38

Thanks Kevin that is finally after searching everywhere, a script that working.

Jamshed · Jul 27, 2007 04:18

cool stuff..
it was really very much helpful for me
thanks allot dude

jk · Sep 5, 2007 03:16

gud hints to work upon

swapnil · Sep 19, 2007 08:29

its very good docs.full ,step by step explainnation

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