Apache CGI scripts in arbitrary directories

In order to allow the execution of CGI scripts by Apache in an arbitrary directory you need to do two things. It's real easy but I forget the details every once in a while.

1: In the <Directory> block you need to add the ExecCGI option, to allow execution of scripts
2: Plus you need to add the AddHandler line, which defines which file extensions represent executable scripts

<Directory /var/www/>
   AddHandler  cgi-script .cgi
   Options ExecCGI Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
   AllowOverride None
   Order allow,deny
   allow from all
</Directory>

And then restart the server.

Note that you want ExecCGI and NOT +ExecCGI - not really sure why the plus option doesn't work, but it doesn't.