Setting up heron.cgi under Windows using Apache

This document explains how to get heron.cgi running under Windows and the Apache webserver.

Install ogr/gdal

heron.cgi makes use of the ogr/gdal libraries. These are most easily installed using the OSGeo4W network installer. Probably you’ll need the 64 bit version.

Configure Apache

Edit your Apache config file using your favourite text editor (it might be wise to backup the file first). Most probably you’ll find that this file is something like:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\conf\httpd.conf

script-alias

If not already done you need to set the ScriptAlias directive to the folder where your cgi programs are located. Eg:

ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "D:/Services/htdocs/cgi-bin/"

Be sure to have heron.cgi in this folder! (Most probably you’ll want your proxy.cgi which also comes with Heron-mc there as well.)

ogr/gdal

For heron.cgi being able to find the ogr/gdal libraries you’ll need to set some environmental parameters:

SetEnv GDAL_DATA "C:\OSGeo4W64/share/gdal"

SetEnv GDAL_DRIVER_PATH "C:\OSGeo4W64/bin/gdalplugins"

Be sure to point these paths to the right folders which were created during ogr/gdal installation.

Configure heron.cgi

To configure heron.cgi you need to edit heron.cgi using your favourite text editor. Of course you’ll find heron.cgi in the folder you have configured using the ScriptAlias directive in the Apache configuration file.

For heron.cgi to work properly as a cgi-program it is useful to have the first line pointing to a working python installation:

#!C:/Python25/python.exe -u

#!/usr/bin/env python

..

Furthermore you’ll have to point heron.cgi to the ogr2ogr executable which you have installed. For this you’ll find a line starting with OGR2OGR_PROG. Adapt the line so that this constant is refering to the right path:

OGR2OGR_PROG = 'C:\OSGeo4W64/bin/ogr2ogr.exe'