What is .htaccess - is it related to Apache mods? What are its primary uses? Does it handle error page customization, and if so, how might I use it to customize my error pages (perhaps FTPing it my host''s webserver?) And what is the diff. between a cgi-bin and a Perl cgi-bin?

.htaccess is usually mucked around with to change security on various file trees in your public folder. though i''m not sure exactly what you do, it can be used to make certain areas of your website password protected (i.e. if someone tries to link to something in that dir, then an enter user/pass window pops up). i believe that apache uses this to enforce said security.

-me

An .htaccess file defines what general permissions, forms of authentication and other access-related information Apache requires to serve up files in a given directory.

Apache 1.3 .htaccess Howto
Apache 2.x .htaccess Howto

(Google exists for a reason.)

quote:Original post by Bimder
And what is the diff. between a cgi-bin and a Perl cgi-bin?

There is no such thing as "a cgi-bin"; cgi-bin is a common directory name on a web server. It is the location in which binary applications or scripts are often stored, usually allowing the server admin to restrict executable permission to that directory alone (or something similar). CGI stands for Common Gateway Interface, and is an abstract I/O format defined to allow binary applications receive data from and send data to a web server.

CGI applications can be written in Perl, C, C++, Python, Visual Basic, FORTRAN... (you get the idea).