Python

The easiest way to get started with Python on a server is with CGI. Really the only difference between CGI and running the script on your home computer is CGI needs to output a "Content-Type" header.

Steps

• Open the File Manager in cPanel

• Double click public_html

• Double click cgi-bin

• In the top left click + File

• Type test.py as your filename

• Click Create New File

• Highlight the test.py file and click Permissions

• Check execute on all three columns so it says 755

• Click Change Permissions

• Click reload and make sure the 755 shows up under the permissions column

• Highlight test.py and click Editor

• Leave UTF-8 as the encoding and click Edit

• Copy/paste this in:

  #!/usr/bin/python3.7
  
  print("Content-Type: text/html\n\n")
  
  print("Heliohost rules!")

• Click Save Changes

• Go to <your subdomain>.heliohost.org/cgi-bin/test.py

If everything worked it should say Heliohost rules! in your browser. The first line is the shebang. That's what tells the server which version of python to use. On Tommy and Johnny you can pick between:

Path	Version
#!/usr/bin/python2.7	2.7.13
#!/usr/bin/python3.7	3.7

and python3.6 for Ricky.

The next line is the Content-Type header. This is important so the server knows what to do with the output that follows. If you forget it your script will give a useless 500 error. The content type header always has to have the two end lines immediately after it. That's what the \n\n is.

Modules

You can see the modules that are currently installed on the Python versions:

Johnny

• Python 2.7

• Python 3.7

Ricky

• Python 2.7

• Python 3.6

Tommy

• Python 2.7

• Python 3.7

If you don't see the module you need your script will probably give a useless 500 error when you try to import the missing module. Just make a post on the forums stating your server, the version of python you're using, and the module(s) you need.

Extra: Python scripts outside cgi-bin folders

Executing a CGI script outside the cgi-bin folder is possible with some modifications.

Steps

• Go to /home/<your username>/public_html.

• Create a file named .htaccess and copy/paste this in:

  Options +ExecCGI
  AddHandler cgi-script .py
  DirectoryIndex index.py

The first two lines make .py files executable outside cgi-bin, and the last line makes the filename index.py show up if someone goes to your domain without having to type out the filename like domain.heliohost.org/index.py. This also supports other CGI file extensions.