A "script produced no output" error occurs on Windows servers when attempting to access a CGI script on a server that is not properly set up to handle CGI scripts. There is not one universal solution to this error message, as it can occur for a variety of reasons. Some of the more frequent reasons are noted here along with suggestions to resolve the problems. In any case, please note that this error message is not produced by the Discus program. Consequently, it does not arise from a problem with the Discus code, and thus DiscusWare support is unable to assist you in resolving this problem.

Perl not set up properly

If a Perl interpreter has not been properly set up on your system, your CGI scripts may produce this error message. If you get this error when attempting to access the ftpdiag.cgi script, try renaming the script to ftpdiag.pl. If this does not work, please see the documents under "Related Resources" in this document regarding how to set up your server to execute Perl scripts.

Server choking on #! path to Perl

Unix scripts, on the first line, contain #!/usr/bin/perl or a similar path to Perl. The unix web servers then know where Perl is found. In contrast, most Windows NT servers do not recognize this and instead require that a specific extension be associated with Perl in the server's registry. With some less common servers, having an incorrect (or blank) #! line at the top of the script will confuse the server. Try removing this line from your script.

Some Windows servers, such as Apache and Xitami, require that an accurate path to Perl be placed on the top line of the script, just like with unix servers. So, the top line of your script might need to be #!c:/perl/bin/perl.exe (or similar). If you are using one of those servers, be sure that your path to Perl is present on the top line of your script and is accurate.

Server not running ActiveState Perl

ActiveState perl contains the "crypt" function which is used by Discus to encrypt user and moderator passwords. Some other ports of Perl do not contain this function. To confirm (or rule out) this possibility, access your diagnostic script (diagnose.cgi or diagnose.pl in the same directory as your CGI scripts). If this script fails to run producing this same error message, it's one of the problems reported above. If it does run and this it indicates that "crypt" is not found, you need to install ActiveState perl to meet the Discus system requirements.

Related Documents

• How to set up Microsoft IIS 4.0 to run Perl scripts
• How to set up Microsoft PWS to run Perl scripts
• Where and how to obtain Active State Perl
• %1 is not a valid Windows NT application