Using (Fast)CGI for non-PHP websites

From ULYSSIS documentation

You're not stuck with PHP if you want to make a dynamic website. You can use all sorts of frameworks and programming languages with ULYSSIS, as long as it has CGI or FastCGI support.

If you want to use a certain programming language or framework, and you can't get it to work, don't hesitate to contact us at ulyssis@ulyssis.org.

CGI

CGI is a very easy and simple way to create a dynamic website. We use Apache's mod_cgid to provide support for CGI.

FastCGI

We use Apache's mod_fcgid to provide support for FastCGI.

Example: Django

If you want to make a website using Django, we recommend that you use a virtualenv. This tool is already preinstalled on our shell servers.

You can use the following steps to get up and running with Django at ULYSSIS:

  1. Log in to a shell server
  2. Create a new virtualenv, you can create one in ~/.venv, for example:
    virtualenv ~/.venv
  3. Activate this virtualenv:
    . ~/.venv/bin/activate
  4. Install Django inside of this virtualenv:
    pip install django
  5. Create a new Django project:
    django-admin.py startproject mysite
  6. Install flup for FastCGI:
    pip install flup
  7. Put an .htaccess file in your site's directory, e.g. the www folder:
    Options +ExecCGI
    AddHandler fcgid-script .fcgi
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ mysite.fcgi/$1 [QSA,L]
  8. Create the starter script (replace user with org if you are an organization, and username with your ULYSSIS username):
    #!/home/user/username/.venv/bin/python
    
    import sys, os
    
    sys.path.insert(0, '/home/user/username/mysite')
    
    os.chdir('/home/user/username/mysite')
    
    os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = 'mysite.settings'
    
    from django.core.servers.fastcgi import runfastcgi
    runfastcgi(method="threaded", daemonize="false")