FAQ-SET200 : ERROR "... COULDN'T CREATE/SPAWN CHILD PROCESS..."
PROBLEM: AWStats seems to run fine at the command prompt but when ran as a CGI from a browser, I get an "Internal Error 500".
I also get the following message in my Apache error log file (or in browser with Apache 2.0+):
...couldn't create/spawn child process: c:/mywebroot/cgi-bin/awstats.pl
SOLUTION: This problem occurs with Apache web server with no internal Perl interpreter (mod_perl not active). To solve this, you must tell Apache where is your Perl interpreter.
For this, you have 2 solutions:
Add the following directive in your Apache httpd.conf config (or remove the # to uncomment it if line is already available)
ScriptInterpreterSource registry
Then restart Apache. This will tell Apache to look into the registry to find the program associated to .pl extension.
Other solution (not necessary if first works): Change the first line of awstats.pl file with the full path of your Perl interpreter.
Example with Windows OS and ActivePerl Perl interpreter (installed in C:\Program Files\ActiveState\ActivePerl), you must change the first line of awstats.pl file with:
#!c:/program files/activestate/activeperl/bin/perl