Affiliate Master

     STEP ONE:  The Basics

     This step just goes over the basics of your server.  If you already know the path to Perl and Sendmail, and know the virtual server paths, you can skip to STEP TWO right away.

     PATH TO PERL5
     PATH TO SENDMAIL
     VIRTUAL SERVER PATHS
     RUNNING CGI SCRIPTS FROM ANYWHERE

 

 

     PATH TO PERL5

     The first key path you will need to know is the path to Perl, version 5.x.  Most servers today have the newest version of Perl installed.

     To determine the path to Perl5, either check the support area for your server, or telnet into your server.

     When at the telnet prompt, type
         whereis perl5    or  
        
which perl5

You should get a path that looks like one of the following:
       /usr/bin/perl                  /usr/bin/perl5
        /usr/local/bin/perl       /usr/local/bin/perl5

Those are the standard paths to perl.  If you see one of the above listed, use that as the path to Perl5 when asked during the setup process.

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    PATH TO SENDMAIL

     The path to sendmail is needed for the sending of the emails.   Most UNIX based servers have Sendmail installed.

     To determine the path to Sendmail, either check the support area for your server, or telnet into your server.

     When at the telnet prompt, type
       whereis sendmail     or  
         which sendmail 

You should get a path that looks like one of the following:
       /usr/sbin/sendmail      /usr/local/sbin/sendmail
        /usr/lib/sendmail         /usr/local/lib/sendmail
  
Those are the standard paths to Sendmail.  If you see one of the above listed, use that as the path to Sendmail when asked during the setup process (during the placeorder.cgi piece).

(NOTE:  some servers have the whereis or which commands disabled, or even telnet disabled, if that is the case, you must contact support or try a default path)

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     VIRTUAL SERVER PATHS

     Virtual Server Paths are the paths used to tell where various directories are on the server.  Paths look very much like the above paths.  The issue with these types of paths is there is no "standard" to how these paths look.  So, this may take a little more work to determine the correct virtual server paths.

     The default installation doesn't need any virtual server paths, but this may not be the best setup since all files would be in the same directory.   We will be assuming you will want to install the scripts within your cgi-bin directory.

     The first step is to telnet into your server.  When you first telnet into your server, you are usually placed in the root of your server.   Normally, this is either one directory below your website, or is the root of your website.

     Type in   pwd   at the root directory to see what the current virtual server path is.  An example path would be:
     /www/username

     This path could be fairly short, like the above, or could be quite long.  Make note of this path for the time being.

     Now, type   ls -al   to list the directories and files in the current directory.  You are looking for a directory called cgi-bin, cgibin, or cgi.

     If you don't see one of the above directories, look for a directory named www, html, or httpd, or a directory where you would be placed into the root directory of your website.

     Once you find a cgi directory, type  cd directoryname, where directoryname is the name of the proper directory.

     Once in your cgi directory, type  pwd  again to get the correct Virtual Server Path.  Make note of this path.

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     RUNNING CGI SCRIPTS FROM ANYWHERE

     Some servers allow you to run your cgi scripts from anywhere on your server instead of just from the cgi-bin directory.  This is very useful as then you do not need to have /cgi-bin/ included in the overall website URL.  You will need to check with your server to see if this option is available.

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