John R. Bayley - Custom apache Error Handlers

Installation instructions the apache active error handlers.

1. Copy files to your system.

Copy the files to a suitable location. I use /home/httpd/errordocs for a redhat based system but you will need to adjust this to suit your system if it is different. I suggest using a location near the apache DocumentRoot location.

Copy the images to your images directory. I use /home/httpd/icons/ again standard redhat. This is aliased as /icons/ in the apache config. If your system is different you will need to edit the files.

Set the file ownership to the apache server. If you are not sure who this is check the apache config file.

chown -R nobody /home/httpd/errordocs
chown -R nobody /home/httpd/errordocs
chmod -R 744 /home/httpd/errordocs

2. edit the perl script

Edit the perl script $BaseDir to point to the location you placed the files in.

3. make a copy of the apache config file

Yes really, do it now. This means you!.

4. Edit the apache config file

Using your favorite text editor edit the apache config file to add the folowing lines :

	ScriptAlias /errordocs/ /home/httpd/errordocs/ ## set to location errordocs are placed

	# Customizable error response (Apache style)
	ErrorDocument 401 /errordocs/error.pl
	ErrorDocument 403 /errordocs/error.pl
	ErrorDocument 404 /errordocs/error.pl
	ErrorDocument 500 /errordocs/error.pl

	< Directory /home/httpd/errordocs > ## set to same location as scriptalias
	AllowOverride None
	Options ExecCGI
	< /Directory >

When all that is done restart the apache server

5. Test

Test the scripts by calling a file that dosen't exist etc....

6. Problems

IE4 /5 uses some internal error handlers if the vanilla 404 error doc is supplied you get a spruced up one from good old MS. However the IE page does not give the same information and if you use IE to test these scripts and you have not configured properly you may not get all the help you need. Check the server error logs for help or use NS or opera.