I want to include .cgi programs (like banners) in UBB 7.x headers, footers, templates, or the likes. I have tried many attempts, am reasonably sure I can do it in PHP, but have not been successful.

You should be able to do it with a simple php include:

Oh if it were that easy. PHP code does not seem work from within templates and my host dissallows html calls in php for security reasons.

What I have found works just fine in a php page is a system call

system( '/usr/bin/perl some_cgi.cgi' );

But this does not work in a template. My goal is to get the .cgi program to execute and diaplay in the body of the page.

ahh yes, the dreaded lack of smarty knowledge on my part...

Got it:

Executing php inside smarty:

{php}
any statement
{/php}

go figure it'd be something easy... I really need to find some ebooks on it when i get some time lol

Ye, now the problem is that it is php that is executing the .cgi and php does not seem able to pass variables. If you add ?whatever=whatever the thing dies.