Preferred Method: Redirect Handler

To configure Apache to run Vortex scripts by file extension (.vs) using the preferred redirect-handler method, Vortex version 6, and Apache version 2.1 or later are required. This procedure is intended for Unix systems and should be performed by root. It configures texis as a redirect handler to run Vortex scripts. Consult your web server manual (or online at http://www.apache.org/) for details and consequences on the directives used in this procedure:

1. Find the existing URL (not filesystem dir) on your server that runs texis. Typically this is /cgi-bin/texis. If there is no existing URL to run texis, consult your web server manual and configure the web server to do so. Typically this is done with a directive similar to: ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /var/www/cgi-bin/ Note that you may also have to copy or symlink the texis executable to /var/www/cgi-bin (though this is typically already performed by the Webinator installation wizard).

2. Open the Apache configuration file (typically /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf; see your web server manual) with a text editor.

3. Add the following two lines, preferably near (but outside) the existing CGI directives:

   Action texis-vortex /cgi-bin/texis virtual
   AddHandler texis-vortex .vs

   If your existing configuration uses a URL other than /cgi-bin/texis to run texis, then change the Action directive appropriately. Note that the Action directive requires that it must be a URL, not filesystem, path. Note that Apache version 2.1 or later is needed for the virtual keyword; with 2.0, omit it.

4. Save the configuration file and exit the editor.

5. Re-start the web server (typically with /etc/init.d/httpd restart; check your web server manual).

Note that despite the virtual keyword in the Action directive, Apache may still require that the parent dir(s) of Vortex scripts exist in the document root (even though Vortex scripts are typically in Vortex's ScriptRoot dir, ie. texis/scripts in the Webinator install dir). This is believed to be a bug in Apache; it was noted in version 2.2.4 at least. Therefore, you may have to create a webinator (or other) directory in your web server's document root (usually /var/www/html). This dir may have already been created by the Webinator installation wizard. If the parent dir(s) are missing in the document root, it may one potential cause of 404 Not Found errors when attempting to run Vortex scripts by extension.