3 ms·
OP does a poor job explaining what CGI scripts were. From the RFC linked in the OP: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3875#page-23 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc
by patsplat 7y ago
OP does a poor job explaining what CGI scripts were.
From the RFC linked in the OP: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3875#page-23 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3875#page-23
CGI defined an interface between a web server and an executable that would provide a response.
- Request meta-data i.e. path, query string, and other headers passed as environment variables.
- Request body passed via stdin
- Response header and body passed via stdout
In this way, a webserver like Apache could provide a platform for a wide array of languages. Yes there were security and scaling concerns, but it also was an opportunity to rapidly release and iterate on a product.