Would you like to learn how to install Nginx and enable the use of Python CGIs on a computer running Ubuntu Linux? In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to enable the CGI feature and enable Python scripts to run on the Nginx server.

• Ubuntu 18
• Ubuntu 19
• Ubuntu 20
• Nginx 1.18.0
• Python 3

Equipment list

The following section presents the list of equipment used to create this tutorial.

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Tutorial Ubuntu – Python CGI on Nginx

Install the Python package.

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Install the Nginx server and the Fcgiwrap package.

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Create a configuration file for the CGI gateway.

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Here is the file content.

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Create a directory to store the CGI files.

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Edit the Nginx configuration file for the default website.

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Insert the following line in the area named SERVER.

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Here is the file, before our configuration.

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Here is the file, after our configuration.

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Restart the Nginx service.

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As an example, let’s create a Python CGI script.

Use the PIP application to install a Python library named ART.

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Access the Nginx’s CGI directory.

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Create a test page using Python.

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Here is the file content.

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Change the file permission.

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Open your browser and enter the IP address of your web server plus /cgi-bin/test.py.

In our example, the following URL was entered in the Browser:

• http://172.31.7.220/cgi-bin/test.py

The Python page should display the following message.

NGINX CGI Python

Congratulations! Nginx is now able to use Python scripts as CGI.