perl mismatched tag, problem = XML::Simple module?

Question

when i try to run this script to send my ip to cpanel...

#!/usr/bin/perl
# -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# dns_update_script.pl
#
# Version 1.0 - 16.01.2012
#
# PERL script to dynamically update the IP of a host via the cPanel-API. This
# script was written to work with the Finnish hoster Neobitti but it might work
# with other hosters which use cPanel too.
#
# Copyright (C) 2012 Stefan Gofferje - http://stefan.gofferje.net/
#
# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
# modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
# published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the
# License, or (at your option) any later version.
#
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
# General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
# Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301, USA.
# -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
use strict;
use LWP::UserAgent;
use MIME::Base64;
use XML::Simple;
use Data::Dumper;
# --- Command line parameters ------------------------------------------------
my $param_domain=$ARGV[0];
my $param_host=$ARGV[1];
my $param_ip=$ARGV[2];
# --- cPanel information -----------------------------------------------------
# Storing passwords in clear text is ugly!
my $cpanel_domain = "yourdomain.com";
my $user = "yourcpaneluser";
my $pass = "yourcpanelpassword";
my $auth = "Basic " . MIME::Base64::encode( $user . ":" . $pass );
# --- Deactivate SSL certificate validation ----------------------------------
# This is ugly but neccessary because Neobitti uses self-signed SSL
# certificates which will fail validation
my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new(ssl_opts => { verify_hostname => 0 });
# --- Find out the linenumber for the A-record we want to change -------------
sub getlinenumber_a {
  my $domain=$_[0];
  my $hostname=$_[1].".";
  my $xml = new XML::Simple;
  my $request = HTTP::Request->new( GET => "https://$cpanel_domain:2083/xml-api/cpanel?cpanel_xmlapi_module=ZoneEdit&cpanel_xmlapi_func=fetchzon
e&domain=$domain" );
  $request->header( Authorization => $auth );
  my $response = $ua->request($request);
  my $zone = $xml->XMLin($response->content);
  my $linenumber="";
  if ($zone->{'data'}->{'status'} eq "1") {
    my $count = @{$zone->{'data'}->{'record'}};
    my $oldip="";
    for (my $item=0;$item<=$count;$item++) {
        my $name=$zone->{'data'}->{'record'}[$item]->{'name'};
        my $type=$zone->{'data'}->{'record'}[$item]->{'type'};
        if ( ($name eq $hostname) && ($type eq "A") ) {
          $linenumber=$zone->{'data'}->{'record'}[$item]->{'Line'};
          $oldip=$zone->{'data'}->{'record'}[$item]->{'record'};
          print "Found $hostname in line $linenumber with IP $oldip.\n"; # DEBUG
        }
    }
  } else {
    $linenumber="0";
    print $zone->{'event'}->{'data'}->{'statusmsg;'}
  }
  return($linenumber);
}
# --- Change the IP address record for a certain linenumber ------------------
sub setip {
  my $domain=$_[0];
  my $linenumber=$_[1];
  my $newip=$_[2];
  my $result="";
  my $xml = new XML::Simple;
  my $request = HTTP::Request->new( GET => "https://$cpanel_domain:2083/xml-api/cpanel?cpanel_xmlapi_module=ZoneEdit&cpanel_xmlapi_func=edit_zone_record&domain=$domain&line=$linenumber&address=$newip" );
  $request->header( Authorization => $auth );
  my $response = $ua->request($request);

  my $reply = $xml->XMLin($response->content);
  if ($reply->{'data'}->{'status'} eq "1") {
    $result="1";
  } else {
    $result=$reply->{'data'}->{'statusmsg'};
  }
  return($result);
}
# --- Main procedure ---------------------------------------------------------
print "Trying to find the linenumber for $param_host in $param_domain...\n";
my $line=getlinenumber_a($param_domain,$param_host);
if ( ($line ne "0") && ($line ne "") ) {
  print "Trying to update IP...\n";
  my $result=setip ($param_domain,$line,$param_ip);
  if ($result eq "1") {
    print "Update successful!\n";
  } else {
    print "$result\n";
  }
} else {
  print "Error - check domain and hostname!\n";
}

---

... I get this error:

mismatched tag at line 37, column 2, byte 4634 at /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/perl5/5.28/XML/Parser.pm line 187.
XML::Simple called at dns_update_script.pl line 55.

---

in the cPanel information section I have filled in my cpanel username, password and domain in my file (not this one). I have filled this in in open text like a noob and ignored this thing:

  my $auth = "Basic " . MIME::Base64::encode( $user . ":" . $pass );

but i dont think this is the problem.

I think the problem is in the XML::Simple module because the script stops when that module is called it seems like to me but idk. pls help.

Answer 1

I just used this shell script instead and hooked it up to my crontab and now it runs the script every hour and it works fine.

https://github.com/CpanelInc/cpanel-dynamicdns-tools

for my raspberry pi web server

Answer 2

You are getting that error because the string you pass to XMLin isn't valid XML. You will need to fix the input to be valid XML.

While I strongly recommend against using XML::Simple, it's not because of problems parsing XML. The underlying parser used in this situation (expat via XML::Parser) isn't known for wrongly claiming valid XML is invalid.

Your program should be checking if the request is successful ($response->is_success). I suspect you are getting some kind of error (e.g. 403 Forbidden). $response->status_line is useful to add to your error message.

(If the request is successful, perhaps you should print out $response->as_string to examine the response to get a better idea of what is happening.)