Aw dude

Server error!

Getting python to spit out html-like files isn't too hard, but remembering all of the details can be a pain. This is a quick checklist of things that might be wrong when you get the dreadfully helpful HTTP Error 500.

• Assuming you're on Apache, make sure the .htaccess is set up to execute python files. The magic words are
  
Options +ExecCGI
AddHandler cgi-script .py

  


• chmod so the server can actually execute the file.


• make sure there are no straight-up python errors by running it in the terminal. At the very least, you can see if there are syntax errors


• You need a content header so the browser knows what it's looking at. print 'Content-Type: text/html;\n\n' (modified to fit the content-type). Remember this must be the first thing it prints.


• Sometimes python can help with Server Error pages. In your python file, say
  
import cgitb
cgitb.enable()

  


• The first line should be a shebang, like #!/usr/bin/python. For your particular setup, you can find this by typing into the terminal where python.

Woot. Back to funtimes.