Xampp
TOC
Running Python Scripts on Windows with Apache and Xampp
You can run Apache on Windows via an easy to use tool called Xampp. If you are having trouble with IIS, or if you just prefer running Apache, even on Windows, then you should try Xampp. It installs quickly, and has little apparent impact on your Windows installation.
xampp is a forehead install, so I will not talk you through that. For our purposes, of course you want the Windows version. Next you want to install Python, which is another forehead install. I assume you have installed both xampp and python on the C Drive:
- c:/xampp
- c:/python27
You should not have to do anything to get CGI working on your server, but you do need to set up Python itself:
- The configuration file http.conf is in c:\xampp\apache\conf\httpd.conf.
- In http.conf look for this line: AddHandler cgi-script .cgi .pl .asp.**Modify it so it looks like this: **AddHandler cgi-script .cgi .pl .asp .py
- You probably won't need to do this, but just to be sure, look for this line: Options Indexes FollowSymLinks. Ensure that it looks like this:Options Indexes FollowSymLinks ExecCGI
- At the top of each Python script you create, set the path to your version of Python**.For instance, ours is in C:\Python27 so we write: #!/Python27/python**
If you want a complete example, you can create a script like the following, and put it in c:\xampp\cgi-bin:
#!/Python27/python
print "Content-type: text/html"
print
print "<html>"
print "<head>"
print "<title>Elvenware CGI</title>"
print "</head>"
print "<body>"
print "<h1>Basho!</h1>"
print "<p>By a Peaceful dark pond</p>"
print "<p>A frog plops</p>"
print "<p>Into the still water</p>"
print "</body>"
print "</html>"
Notes: I'm not at all sure it is mandatory, but I put Python on my path. You do not need or want to install mod_python, but wsgi might be useful. We will address that issue later.
Here is some useful information from the Apache site.
IIS Issues
IUSR account replaces the IUSR_MachineName account
IIS Logging
- C:\inetpub\logs\LogFiles
- Advanced Logging Install
- Learn to use advanced Logging
IE - Internet Options | Advanced
- Turn of Show Friendly HTTP Error Messages