Re: what's a CGI to do?...

Dave Kristol (dmk@allegra.att.com)
Thu, 30 Nov 95 17:18:13 EST


drtr1@cus.cam.ac.uk (David Robinson) wrote:
[Boy, this is getting hard to follow....]
> > [DMK]
> >I think my problem is that here (and in the PATH_INFO section) you
> >leave unspecified how it is that PATH_INFO is arrived at, yet under
> >"Defining a script URI" you make it clear it's the part after
> >enc-script, which is what I would have expected. I would guess you're
> >drawing a distinction between CGI's that are called as a result of URL
> >processing and CGI's that are called by some other mechanism, in which
> >case PATH_INFO would be derived some other way.
>
> How about rewriting it as follows:
> * Firstly, define a 'script URL' which identifies the resource output by the
> CGI script. This URL is only meaningful in the server-script context.
> * State that this _may_ be the URL requested by the client, but then it might
> not; for example, in the cases I listed above.
> * Define SCRIPT_NAME, PATH_INFO, QUERY_STRING in terms of the 'script URL'.
>
> Do you think that would be clearer? I think it would be saying the same thing.
I think that helps. Anything that adds precision and predictability helps.
>
> [...]
> > > >Recommendations for scripts
> [stuff about /../ and /./ in PATH_TRANSLATED]
>
> I've changed it to be more explicit. Have another look.
Better. Thanks.

Dave Kristol