Help with .cgi Files?

cubitcubit
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
My Cube running OS X.2.3 seems to have lost its way and cannot open .cgi files. I have most of the world's software on my Mac, but nothing seems to work. Any suggestions as to which apps I can set under "Open with" to get these files open? Any and all help would be appreciated.



PhotoShop 7.0

Preview

Adobe Acrobat



all failed so far

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    CGI files? CGI files are scripts. You cannot retrieve them using HTTP. You cannot open them in a graphics app, as they are text files.
  • Reply 2 of 4
    der kopfder kopf Posts: 2,275member
    Well, they are more likely to be anything else but .cgi (perl -?- scripts). They might be compressed archives. Sometimes downloads are handled by perl or php scripts, and they sometimes give your download the fictitious (because not correct) extension of .cgi or .php. Of course with OS X having become so anal when it comes to extension it does not know what to do with them.

    So, try to figure out what it was you downloaded, and then try to rename it (the extension at least)/open it with a specific application accordingly.



    As most downloads are indeed compressed archives, I'd first try dropping them on Stuffit Expander. If that doesn't help, try opening them with TextEdit. If that shows readable text, try to figure out from there. If that's just gobbledygook, then it is binary information, and you most likely have an image or other multimedia file on your hands. Try opening with preview and with quicktime player then.



    Tell us what it was when you're done.
  • Reply 3 of 4
    cubitcubit Posts: 846member
    Thank you folks, I'll work that out and let you know. Thanks for your help. I like the X anal-retentive explanation, as that matches my experience so far. Great System, but thre are some very un-Mac things going on here! [What happened to color-shading my folders on the desktop, for example?]



    [ 02-03-2003: Message edited by: Cubit ]</p>
  • Reply 4 of 4
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    The problem here is actually with your browser or with the site from which you are downloading. When you browser puts a request in to download a file via a cgi, the server is supposed to reply with redirect information that tells the browser the correct name to apply to the file. Internet Explorer is infamous for *frequently* ignoring that information altogether. Are you using IE? Of course, sometimes the servers are to blame and forget to send that information, but this is rare.



    Perhaps this would be an incentive to upgrade to upgrade out of that godforsaken Internet Explorer browser.



    The OS is doing exactly as it should. If the browser doesn't get the right file name, then it is probably ignoring the MIME type as well and therefore cannot give the file a Type/Creator code. Thus, it ends up being an unknown file type with a cryptic name. In a perfect world, the OS would look for the magic bytes near the beginning of the file and try to guess and what is *should* be, but that would conflict with the extension that was given to the file.



    [ 02-04-2003: Message edited by: Brad ]</p>
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