cgijs

CGIJS is a library to run any CGI mode / Interpreted language script files, or connect to any web application server proxies, or manage processes in the system.

CGIJS library:

• Supports running any CGI / Interpreted Language scripts in any OS that runs node.js.
• Supports both CGI executables as well as proxy to localhost/ remote /embedded servers using proxying of multiple protocols (http, websockets, tcp, udp, socks, ssh, ftp).
• Supports managing processes like embedded server executables, embedded database executables, or any other embedded/ non-embedded executables

[Funding Invited]

General Note: The library is production ready. However, please be cautious of processes/executables permissions/security in your project using CGIJS

History

CGIJS was created with a motivation to allow creation of a Desktop executable/ application using Electron that can run any CGI / Interpreted language scripted files/ applications under the hood.

Installation

npm install cgijs --save

Features

Light weight, Flexible, Generic implementation. CGIJS is Nodejs Framework Independent / agnostic for application development.

There are three main modules inside CGIJS - file for CGI file execution, proxy for running proxies, and process for managing processes.

Node CGI Embedded - run interpreted scripts that support cgi using nodejs

• CGI file execution
  • Run any scripts that support CGI based serving/execution
  • Run multiple CGI executables/ Interpreters in one or multiple applications
  • Embed your own CGI/ Interpreted Language executables

Node Web Proxy - run web proxies

• Running Proxies
  • Run any host that serves a web app, using proxy
  • Run proxies for Application (Local / Remote)
  • Supports websocket implementation in web proxies
  • Run multiple protocol proxies (HTTP, UDP, TCP, Websockets, Socks) and multiple instances in one or multiple applications

Node Processes - Manage web servers, database processes, or other system processes or services

• Manage Processes or Services
  • Allows running and closing process Executables
  • Allows managing Embedding Web Servers, which can run web applications through proxies [TODO Testing for some embeddable servers]
  • Allows managing Embedded Database servers [TODO Testing for some embeddable databases]
  • Should run smoothly with Unsupported proxy servers/ processes/ services (not widely tested)
• Embedding
  • Multiple web servers in one or multiple applications
  • Multiple databases in one or multiple applications

Functionality Details

The script should support piping all files of below interpreted languages:

• Python (2.x, 3.x) - py (for Python .py extension files. Needed for *nix systems)
• Perl (Version Independent) - plc, pld, pl (for Perl .pl, .plc, .pld extension files)
• PHP (Version Independent) - php (for .php extension files)
• Ruby (Version Independent) - rb (for Ruby .rb extension files)
• Node.js (Version Independent) - js (for Node.js .js extension files)
• [] CGI - cgi (for CGI .cgi extension files) [TODO]

The script should support piping all proxies of above languages and following:

• Jsp (With Tomcat, or any webserver as proxy)
• Aspx (With IIS, Apache, or any webserver as proxy)
• [] Jsp (With Tomcat embedded) [TODO]
• [] Aspx (With Nginx and Apache embedded) [TODO]

The script currently allows working with (starting, stopping, restarting) following web servers:

• IIS (Allows Proxy) [Done]
• Nginx (Allows Proxy) [Done]
• Apache HTTPD (Allows Proxy) [Done]
• Apache TomCat (Allows Proxy) [Done]
• Nginx (Allows Embed) [Done]
• Apache HTTPD (Allows Embed) [Done]
• Apache TomCat (Allows Embed) [TODO - Testing, should work based on current testing of other proxies]
• Mongoose (Allows Proxy) [TODO - Testing, should work based on current testing of other proxies]
• Jetty (Allows Proxy) [TODO - Testing, should work based on current testing of other proxies]
• Putty (Allows Proxy) [TODO - Testing, should work based on current testing of other proxies]
• [] Mongoose (Allows Embed) [TODO - Testing]
• [] Jetty (Allows Embed) [TODO - Testing]
• [] Putty (Allows Embed) [TODO - Testing]
• [] PHP development server using php -S [TODO]
• [] Ruby development server using rails server [TODO]
• [] Python development server using py -m http.server [TODO]
• Other Proxy-able local/remote servers

The script currently allows working with (starting, stopping, restarting) following databases and processes:

• Mysql [Done]
• MongoDB [Done]
• [] PgSQL [TODO]
• [] Redis [TODO]
• Other Processes for your application support

Note:

This library is in active development. Issues, and feedbacks as github ticket are welcome.

Package Dependencies:

• Environment and Library dependencies:

  • Nodejs: (> 8.x),
  • shelljs,
  • http-proxy,
  • socks,
  • udp-proxy,
  • socket-proxy,
  • http-proxy-to-socks

• Application Dependencies:

  • Your app, you decide
  • Example/Demo has "express": "^4.17.1"
  • Alternatively, Use any other Nodejs framework you want to use for your app

Usage Demo:

This project contains example that demonstrates working with ExpressJS.

• The demos for runing CGI/Interpreted scripts with node.js and express applications can be found in the folder demo app.
• The demos for individual implementation of file, process, proxy, and utils modules can be found in the folder demo usage [todo]

Use case:

cgijs library has been created to address following use cases:

• working with CGI / interpreted languages from any Node.js app framework
• using any CGI / interpreted languages apps with electron as demonstrated in functioning desktop-cgi app

Technical Specifications

... * Wiki links to be added

Wiki

• Getting started
  • Quick demo - CGI mode executable files
  • Quick demo - proxying to proxies/servers
  • Quick demo - proxying to proxy's websocket
  • Quick demo - proxying to udp, socks, http to socks proxy's websocket
• Run CGI files
  • PHP (.php)
  • Perl (Perl any versions - .plc, .pld, .pl)
  • Python (Python2, Python3 - .py)
  • Ruby (.rb)
  • Node.js (.js)
• Run Proxy servers to connect to:
  • Any Local http/https/websocket Servers
  • Any Remote http/https/websocket Servers
  • Embedded Apache httpd, Apache tomcat, Nginx (http/https/websocket)
  • Embedded Mongoose http server (http/https)
• Manage Embedded Servers (for desktop-cgi use case):
  • Embedded Apache httpd (http/https/websocket)
  • Embedded Apache tomcat (http/https/websocket)
  • Embedded Mongoose http server (http/https)
  • Embedded Nginx (http/https/websocket)
  • PHP inbuilt web development servers
  • Ruby inbuilt web development servers
  • Python inbuilt web development servers
• Manage Embedded Database Servers (for desktop-cgi use case):
  • Embedded Mysql
  • Embedded MongoDB
  • Embedded PgSQL
  • Working with SQLite
• Manage Processes (for desktop-cgi use case):
  • Other Processes or executable workings
• Run and Manage embedded or non-embedded executables / processes on need for application
• Working with config.json file for simpler implementation in apps

Current Status

• In development [Testing for Desktop-CGI use case]
• In development [Testing for language based development server]

Todo

Check .todo file for latest TODO list

License

The MIT License (MIT) - See LICENSE for further details

Copyright © 2019 - till library works: Ganesh B [email protected]

Please support the development in github repository through

- feature needs reporting,
- testing,
- issue reporting,
- contribution
- Please use these [styles](https://github.com/cgi-js/cgi-js/issues/13) for contributions