I've been thinking about using Apache http advanced features and SSI to build a dynamic site with like a simple cms(lists most recent stories and uses a csv file to do look ups). Is it possible to abuse the advanced features of Apache and SSI in this way and is it feasible? I know that SSI offers a lot of power when it comes to conditionals, and that apache has some really powerful built in features.
Is it possible to use SSI and Apache to make a cms?
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I wrote a wiki, a blog and a large custom Web site, with content provided by users, with nothing but Apache SSI and a few Unix commands, so you can certainly do it. If you're going to use a CSV file, you'll have to write one or more CGI programs to process it. They could be nothing more than shell scripts, but be VERY careful about using input from a POST or GET as variables in shell scripts. A hacker could put commands in them that sh would execute. You could use the exec SSI command, but it's a security risk in the same way as sh. It's best to write in a language that can access the content of environment variables directly, e.g. Perl, Awk, etc.
At one time, SSI gained the ability to process the query string directly. Unfortunately, in the latest version of Apache SSI, URL parsing is less powerful than it once was. Nevertheless, I think SSI is one of the most under-appreciated Web tools available.
Best of luck.