Run terminal command from webpage

cazz · Thu Nov 15, 2012 4:30 pm

Hi again

If I like to run a terminal command from my webpage, what is the best way then?

I like to have button to push if for example I wan't to restart my raspberry pi or if I like to run "wakeonlan 00:00:00:00:00:00"

jecxjo · Thu Nov 15, 2012 5:13 pm

You'll want to look into writing CGI scripts. This is code that runs when a site is loaded.

For instances on my Pi I have the following file /www/ping.cgi

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash

echo "Ping" >> /tmp/cgi-called.log

cat << EOF
Content-type: text/html

<html>
<head>
<title>Cgi Script</title>
</head>
<body>
CGI Script ran, check out /tmp/cgi-called.log to see how many times
</body>
</html>

EOF

Depending on your webserver there may be a special CGI directory where executable will live. Most systems also have a special user that runs as the webserver. This user typically does not have access to system operations like rebooting, which is by design. If someone was able to change your cgi script and run it you wouldn't want them to be able to have root privileges. But there is always ways around these restrictions, just not always safe.

cazz · Thu Nov 15, 2012 7:00 pm

Ahh ok, well I have try to make my lighthttpd to have CGI support but I have no idea if I have made it works or not

I was going to post a topic here later about that

AndyD · Thu Nov 15, 2012 8:58 pm

The placeholder page for lighttpd (/var/www/index.lighttpd.html) has the following information

CGI scripts are looked for in /usr/lib/cgi-bin, which is where Debian packages will place their scripts. You can enable cgi module by using command "lighty-enable-mod cgi".

That was all I needed to do to get cgi working for me.

cazz · Thu Nov 15, 2012 10:18 pm

ok but have you edit the config file?

I have done that and now I have use "lighty-enable-mod cgi" and " /etc/init.d/lighttpd force-reload"
I did have to remove "mod_cgi" and run it again and it say "OK" but still it can't find the cgi file.

http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewt ... 26&t=22986

AndyD · Fri Nov 16, 2012 7:46 am

Hi Cazz,
No I didn't edit the config at all. I just made a cgi-bin directory in /var/www/ and put my script in there (I am using perl but I assume it is all the same).
I wasn't sure why they were talking about /usr/lib/cgi-bin, but I didn't want my cgi scripts in a different location to my HTML files.

cazz · Fri Nov 16, 2012 8:15 am

Hi AndyD
Ohh ok then I have to try that when I get home

Ripster · Fri Nov 16, 2012 7:05 pm

Hey guys.
I ran into a problem. I am also trying to control my camera from webpage I'm using php to run a script or command.

Code: Select all

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Output of my bash script</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Output of my bash script</h1>
<pre>
<?php system("gphoto2 --capture-image", $rc); ?>
</pre>
    <br>
    <?php echo "Return Code: {$rc}\n"; ?>
  </body>
</html>

I can run gphoto2 commands or sh scripts. The problem is that I have a camera that needs usbreset and I can't get it to work over webpage. Everything works from command line. Has anyone solved this or can help. thx

cazz · Fri Nov 16, 2012 7:41 pm

Strange
I did make a clean debian and follow this guide (I did follow this before)
http://simonthepiman.com/how_to_setup_a ... upport.php

after that I did run "lighty-enable-mod cgi" and " /etc/init.d/lighttpd force-reload"

After that I did upload the ping.cgi file and I change to +x

But it show nothing, just a plain blank screen.
I even look inside the log "/tmp/cgi-called.log" nothing there.

AndyD · Sat Nov 17, 2012 2:57 am

I would try a simple cgi script first (e.g. http://perl.about.com/od/perltutorials/a/hellocgi.htm) before trying more complicated programs/scripts. One issue may be that the lighttpd demon is run as user www-data. So all the cgi-bin scripts are also run as user www-data, which could mean you are possibly running into permission problems.

cazz · Sat Nov 17, 2012 9:04 am

Hmm strange

I have change the owner of cgi file and even the group owner of the file but still does not show anything.

I wonder if that have to do that PHP run mod_fastcgi, what I understand lighttpd run PHP as CGI?

AndyD · Sat Nov 17, 2012 10:09 am

Hi Cazz,
I didn't mean the read permissions on the files, but permission to perform some operations. For example the command to get the cpu (?) temperature on the pi

/opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd measure_temp

fails when run as user www-data.

Code: Select all

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo su - www-data
$ /opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd measure_temp
VCHI initialization failed

However, I should have read the thread again. Now I understand the ping.cgi script (I thought it was some sort of script that was trying to ping a host ... silly me).

Anyway, I tried the ping.cgi script myself. It turn out that it I put the script in /var/www my browser wants to download the script. That is lighttpd doesn't execute it. However if I move the script to /var/www/cgi-bin/ it works.

cazz · Sat Nov 17, 2012 12:05 pm

ok but I don't think it is that problem.

I have even try "Hello world" script and nothing happend.

It does not say anything, no error, no download just a plain white page.

The only thing I have add in my conf file is so I can run PHP.
I wonder if that is the problem

Code: Select all

server.modules = (
	"mod_access",
	"mod_alias",
	"mod_compress",
	"mod_fastcgi",
 	"mod_redirect",
#       "mod_rewrite",
)

server.document-root        = "/var/www"
server.upload-dirs          = ( "/var/cache/lighttpd/uploads" )
server.errorlog             = "/var/log/lighttpd/error.log"
server.pid-file             = "/var/run/lighttpd.pid"
server.username             = "www-data"
server.groupname            = "www-data"
server.port                 = 80


index-file.names            = ( "index.php", "index.html", "index.lighttpd.html" )
url.access-deny             = ( "~", ".inc" )
static-file.exclude-extensions = ( ".php", ".pl", ".fcgi", ".cgi" )

compress.cache-dir          = "/var/cache/lighttpd/compress/"
compress.filetype           = ( "application/javascript", "text/css", "text/html", "text/plain" )

# default listening port for IPv6 falls back to the IPv4 port
include_shell "/usr/share/lighttpd/use-ipv6.pl " + server.port
include_shell "/usr/share/lighttpd/create-mime.assign.pl"
include_shell "/usr/share/lighttpd/include-conf-enabled.pl"

  fastcgi.server = ( ".php" => ((
                     "bin-path" => "/usr/bin/php-cgi",
                     "socket" => "/tmp/php.socket"
                 )))

Honsolgen · Tue Nov 26, 2013 11:34 am

SetUID on vcgencmd and it works

chmod u+s /opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd

vadim · Tue Nov 26, 2013 12:33 pm

check out RaspCtl

arpan9818 · Mon Apr 11, 2016 7:37 am

hi .. i am trying to run this command on a web page but i got a blank page .

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sudo /home/pi/sources/Adafruit_Python_DHT/examples/AdafruitDHT.py 2302 4

[/color][/color]

i have attached the image which shows when in run above command in terminal of my raspberry pi.

Run terminal command from webpage

Run terminal command from webpage

Re: Run terminal command from webpage

Re: Run terminal command from webpage

Re: Run terminal command from webpage

Re: Run terminal command from webpage

Re: Run terminal command from webpage

Re: Run terminal command from webpage

Re: Run terminal command from webpage

Re: Run terminal command from webpage

Re: Run terminal command from webpage

Re: Run terminal command from webpage

Re: Run terminal command from webpage

Re: Run terminal command from webpage

Re: Run terminal command from webpage

Re: Run terminal command from webpage

Re: Run terminal command from webpage