thttpd/cgi-src/redirect.8

.TH redirect 8 "23 September 1995"
.SH NAME
redirect - simple redirection CGI program
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B redirect
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
Three steps to set up a redirection:
.PP
1. Make sure your web server is set up to allow CGI programs.
.PP
2. Make a symbolic link from the file or directory you want to redirect,
pointing at this program in the CGI bin directory.
.PP
3. Add an entry to the file ".redirects" in the directory where your
http server runs CGI programs.  For most servers, this is the
directory where the given CGI program lives.  The format of the
file is a bunch of lines with a filename, whitespace, and the new
URL.  For example:
.nf
  /test/oldfile.html    http://www.acme.com/test/newfile.html
.fi
The easiest way to figure out precisely what filename to put into .redirects
is to set up the symlink and then click on it.
You'll get back a "404 Not Found" page which includes the filename
as received by the redirect program, and that's what you want to use.
.PP
You can also add a wildcard specification to redirect whole groups of files.
For example:
.nf
  /wildtest/*          http://www.acme.com/test-
.fi
will cause an access to the /wildtest/somefile.html to be redirected to
http://www.acme.com/test-somefile.html. (Note that the asterisk need not
be preceded by a slash.)
.PP
Note: this is designed for thttpd (http://www.acme.com/software/thttpd/)
and using it with other web servers may require some hacking.  A possible
gotcha is with the symbolic link from the old file pointing at this
script - servers other than thttpd may not allow that link to be run
as a CGI program, because they don't check the link to see that it
points into the allowed CGI directory.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
thttpd(8)
.SH "BUGS / DEFICIENCIES"
.PP
It would be really cool to have this program look for
the .redirects file in the same directory as the file being redirected,
instead of in the binaries directory.  Unfortunately, this appears
to be impossible with the information CGI gives, plus the non-standardized
but widespread practice of running CGI programs in the directory where
the binary lives.  Perhaps CGI 1.2 will address this.
.PP
The wildcard mechanism is very primitive.
In particular, any characters that follow the asterisk are blithely
ignored.
.SH AUTHOR
Copyright � 1995 by Jef Poskanzer <jef@acme.com>.
All rights reserved.
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
.\" 
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
Revision:	1.1
Committed:	Mon Jun 18 21:11:57 2001 UTC (25 years, 3 months ago) by root
Branch:	MAIN
CVS Tags:	mp_j, dp_j, cp_j, HEAD
Branch point for:	connpatch, dirpatch, mmapppatch
Log Message:	* empty log message *
#	User	Rev	Content
1	root	1.1	.TH redirect 8 "23 September 1995"
2			.SH NAME
3			redirect - simple redirection CGI program
4			.SH SYNOPSIS
5			.B redirect
6			.SH DESCRIPTION
7			.PP
8			Three steps to set up a redirection:
9			.PP
10			1. Make sure your web server is set up to allow CGI programs.
11			.PP
12			2. Make a symbolic link from the file or directory you want to redirect,
13			pointing at this program in the CGI bin directory.
14			.PP
15			3. Add an entry to the file ".redirects" in the directory where your
16			http server runs CGI programs. For most servers, this is the
17			directory where the given CGI program lives. The format of the
18			file is a bunch of lines with a filename, whitespace, and the new
19			URL. For example:
20			.nf
21			/test/oldfile.html http://www.acme.com/test/newfile.html
22			.fi
23			The easiest way to figure out precisely what filename to put into .redirects
24			is to set up the symlink and then click on it.
25			You'll get back a "404 Not Found" page which includes the filename
26			as received by the redirect program, and that's what you want to use.
27			.PP
28			You can also add a wildcard specification to redirect whole groups of files.
29			For example:
30			.nf
31			/wildtest/* http://www.acme.com/test-
32			.fi
33			will cause an access to the /wildtest/somefile.html to be redirected to
34			http://www.acme.com/test-somefile.html. (Note that the asterisk need not
35			be preceded by a slash.)
36			.PP
37			Note: this is designed for thttpd (http://www.acme.com/software/thttpd/)
38			and using it with other web servers may require some hacking. A possible
39			gotcha is with the symbolic link from the old file pointing at this
40			script - servers other than thttpd may not allow that link to be run
41			as a CGI program, because they don't check the link to see that it
42			points into the allowed CGI directory.
43			.SH "SEE ALSO"
44			thttpd(8)
45			.SH "BUGS / DEFICIENCIES"
46			.PP
47			It would be really cool to have this program look for
48			the .redirects file in the same directory as the file being redirected,
49			instead of in the binaries directory. Unfortunately, this appears
50			to be impossible with the information CGI gives, plus the non-standardized
51			but widespread practice of running CGI programs in the directory where
52			the binary lives. Perhaps CGI 1.2 will address this.
53			.PP
54			The wildcard mechanism is very primitive.
55			In particular, any characters that follow the asterisk are blithely
56			ignored.
57			.SH AUTHOR
58			Copyright � 1995 by Jef Poskanzer <jef@acme.com>.
59			All rights reserved.
60			.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
61			.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
62			.\" are met:
63			.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
64			.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
65			.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
66			.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
67			.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
68			.\"
69			.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
70			.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
71			.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
72			.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
73			.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
74			.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
75			.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
76			.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
77			.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
78			.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
79			.\" SUCH DAMAGE.