Perl is Practical Extraction and Report Language, which is quite famous and used by many web application. A Perl5 database interface to the MySQL database is provided by libdbd perl mysql shared library.
You can install perl support via mod_fastcgi or mod_cgi. Following are essential steps to run perl based application in chrooted lighttpd setup along with MySQL
This article is part of securing and running Lighttpd in chrooted jail.
Step #1: Enable mod_cgi
# lighty-enable-mod cgiOutput:
Available modules: auth cgi cml fastcgi proxy simple-vhost ssi ssl trigger-b4-dl userdir
Already enabled modules:
Enabling cgi: ok
Run /etc/init.d/lighttpd force-reload to enable changes
Now modify the file /etc/lighttpd/conf-enabled/10-cgi.conf file as per our chrooted jail setup:
# cp /etc/lighttpd/conf-enabled/10-cgi.conf /root/
# vi /etc/lighttpd/conf-enabled/10-cgi.conf
Modify the file as follows:
server.modules += ( “mod_cgi” )
alias.url += ( “/cgi-bin/” => “/home/lighttpd/cgi-bin/” )
cgi.assign = (
“.pl” => “/usr/bin/perl”,
)
Save and close the file.
Step #2: Prepare the file system for perl
# mkdir /webroot/usr/share -p
# mkdir /webroot/usr/lib -p
# mkdir /webroot/home/lighttpd/cgi-bin/ -p
# chown www-data:www-data /webroot/home/lighttpd/cgi-bin/
Step #3: Put Perl in the jail
Copy /usr/bin/perl to /webroot/usr/bin directory:# cp /usr/bin/perl /webroot/usr/bin
Install shared object/liberires used by perl:# /bin/l2chroot /usr/bin/perl
Now copy all perl files and modules stored in /usr directory:
# cp -avr /usr/share/perl /webroot/usr/share
# cp -avr /usr/share/perl5 /webroot/usr/share
# cp -avr /usr/lib/perl /webroot/usr/lib
# cp -avr /usr/lib/perl5 /webroot/usr/lib
Step #4: Put Perl MySQL DBD shared libraries in the jail
Copy shared libraries needed to load perl mysql.so (which is stored at /webroot/usr/lib/perl5/auto/DBD/mysql/mysql.so). Type the following command:
# /bin/l2chroot /usr/lib/perl5/auto/DBD/mysql/mysql.so
Please note that you have just enabled perl mysql support. However /usr/lib/perl5/ directory contains other shared object used by perl. You need to enable them to use rest of Perl features.
Step #5: Restart the lighttpd
# /etc/init.d/lighttpd restart
