NAME
ssi - server-side-includes CGI program
SYNOPSIS
ssi
DESCRIPTION
This is an external CGI program that gives you the same functionality
as the built-in server-side-includes feature in some HTTP daemons. It
is written for use with thttpd(8), but should be easy to adapt to other
systems.
To use this program, first make sure it is installed in your server’s
CGI area, and that CGI is enabled. Then set up your URLs with the path
to the document you want parsed as the "pathinfo". That’s the part of
the URL that comes after the CGI program name. For example, if the URL
to this program is:
http://www.acme.com/cgi-bin/ssi
and the url for your document is:
http://www.acme.com/users/wecoyote/doc.html
then the compound URL that gives you the document filtered through the
program would be:
http://www.acme.com/cgi-bin/ssi/users/wecoyote/doc.html
The format description below is adapted from
http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/docs/tutorials/includes.html
INCLUDE FORMAT
All directives are formatted as SGML comments within the document.
This is in case the document should ever find itself in the client’s
hands unparsed. Each directive has the following format:
<!--#command tag1="value1" tag2="value2" -->
Each command takes different arguments, most only accept one tag at a
time. Here is a breakdown of the commands and their associated tags:
* config: The config directive controls various aspects of the file
parsing. There are two valid tags:
o timefmt: gives the server a new format to use when providing
dates. This is a string compatible with the strftime library
call.
o sizefmt: determines the formatting to be used when displaying
the size of a file. Valid choices are bytes, for a formatted
byte count (formatted as 1,234,567), or abbrev for an
abbreviated version displaying the number of kilobytes or
megabytes the file occupies.
* include: Inserts the text of another document into the parsed
document. The inserted file is parsed recursively, so it can
contain server-side-include directives too. This command accepts
two tags:
o virtual: Gives a virtual path to a document on the server.
o file: Gives a pathname relative to the current directory. ../
cannot be used in this pathname, nor can absolute paths be
used.
* echo: Prints the value of one of the include variables (defined
below). Any dates are printed subject to the currently configured
timefmt. The only valid tag to this command is var, whose value is
the name of the variable you wish to echo.
* fsize: prints the size of the specified file, subject to the
sizefmt parameter to the config command. Valid tags are the same
as with the include command.
* flastmod: prints the last modification date of the specified file,
subject to the formatting preference given by the timefmt parameter
to config. Valid tags are the same as with the include command.
VARIABLES
A number of variables are made available to parsed documents. In
addition to the CGI variable set, the following variables are made
available:
* DOCUMENT_NAME: The current filename.
* DOCUMENT_URI: The virtual path to this document (such as
/~robm/foo.shtml).
* QUERY_STRING_UNESCAPED: The unescaped version of any search query
the client sent.
* DATE_LOCAL: The current date, local time zone. Subject to the
timefmt parameter to the config command.
* DATE_GMT: Same as DATE_LOCAL but in Greenwich mean time.
* LAST_MODIFIED: The last modification date of the current document.
Subject to timefmt like the others.
BUGS / DEFICIENCIES
Does not implement the "exec" directive. Actually, I consider this
neither a bug nor a deficiency, but some may.
SEE ALSO
thttpd(8), strftime(3)
AUTHOR
Copyright © 1995 by Jef Poskanzer <jef@mail.acme.com>. All rights
reserved.
18 October 1995 ssi(8)