The "cgi" command:

Usage: fossil ?cgi? FILE

This command causes Fossil to generate reply to a CGI request.

The FILE argument is the name of a control file that provides Fossil with important information such as where to find its repository. In a typical CGI deployment, FILE is the name of the CGI script and will typically look something like this:

#!/usr/bin/fossil
repository: /home/somebody/project.db

The command name, "cgi", may be omitted if the GATEWAY_INTERFACE environment variable is set to "CGI", which should always be the case for CGI scripts run by a webserver. Fossil ignores any lines that begin with "#".

The following control lines are recognized:

repository: PATH
Name of the Fossil repository

directory:
PATH Name of a directory containing many Fossil repositories whose names all end with ".fossil". There should only be one of "repository:" or "directory:"

notfound: URL
When in "directory:" mode, redirect to URL if no suitable repository is found.

repolist
When in "directory:" mode, display a page showing a list of available repositories if the URL is "/".

localauth
Grant administrator privileges to connections from 127.0.0.1 or ::1.

nossl
Signal that no SSL connections are available.

nocompress
Do not compress HTTP replies.

skin: LABEL
Use the built-in skin called LABEL rather than the default, or the default if LABEL is empty. If there are no skins called LABEL then this line is a no-op.

files: GLOBLIST
GLOBLIST is a comma-separated list of GLOB patterns that specify files that can be returned verbatim. This feature allows Fossil to act as a web server returning static content.

setenv: NAME VALUE
Set environment variable NAME to VALUE. Or if VALUE is omitted, unset NAME.

HOME: PATH
Shorthand for "setenv: HOME PATH"

cgi-debug: FILE
Causing debugging information to be written into FILE.

errorlog: FILE
Warnings, errors, and panics written to FILE.

timeout: SECONDS
Do not run for longer than SECONDS. The default timeout is FOSSIL_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT (600) seconds.

extroot: DIR
Directory that is the root of the sub-CGI tree on the /ext page.

redirect: REPO URL
Extract the "name" query parameter and search REPO for a check-in or ticket that matches the value of "name", then redirect to URL. There can be multiple "redirect:" lines that are processed in order. If the REPO is "*", then an unconditional redirect to URL is taken.

jsmode: VALUE
Specifies the delivery mode for JavaScript files. See the help text for the --jsmode flag of the http command.

mainmenu: FILE
Override the mainmenu config setting with the contents of the given file.

Most CGI files contain only a "repository:" line. It is uncommon to use any other option.

The lines are processed in the order they are read, which is most significant for "errorlog:", which should be set before "repository:" so that any warnings from the database when opening the repository go to that log file.