SYNOPSIS

micro-httpd DIRECTORY

OPTIONS

None.

DESCRIPTION

micro-httpd is a very small HTTP server all in 150 lines of code. It runs from inetd, which means its performance is poor. But for low-traffic sites, it is quite adequate. It implements all the basic features of an HTTP server, including:

    *  Security against ".." filename snooping.
    *  The common MIME types.
    *  Trailing-slash redirection.
    *  index.html
    *  Directory listings.

To install it, add a line like this to /etc/inetd.conf:

    micro-http  stream tcp nowait nobody \
       /usr/sbin/micro-httpd micro-httpd dir

Make sure the path to the executable is correct, and change ``dir'' to be the directory you want to serve. You could add line like this to /etc/services:

    micro-http   port/tcp   #Micro HTTP server

Change ``port'' to the port number you want to use: 80, 8000, whatever. Restart inetd by sending it a ``HUP'' signal.

On some systems, inetd has a maximum spawn rate - if you try to run inetd services faster than a certain number of times per minute, it assumed there is either a bug of an attack going on and it shuts down for a few minutes. If you run into this problem - look for syslog messages about too-rapid looping - you will need to find out how to increase the limit. Unfortunately this varies from OS to OS. On FreeBSD, you add a ``-R 10000'' flag to inetd's initial command line. On some Linux systems, you can set the limit on a per-service basis in inetd.conf, by changing ``nowait'' to ``nowait.10000''.

Note that you can use micro-httpd to serve HTTPS, if you like, by running it from stunnel. First fetch and install stunnel - FreeBSD users can just go to /usr/ports/security/stunnel and do a ``make cert ; make install''. Then as root run:

    stunnel -p /usr/local/certs/stunnel.pem -d 443 -l \
       /usr/sbin/micro-httpd --  micro-httpd dir

Make sure the paths to the certificate and executable are correct, and again don not forget to change ``dir'' to the directory you want to serve.

FILES

None.

AUTHORS

Copyright (C) 1999 Jef Poskanzer <[email protected]>. All rights reserved.

This manual page was updated by Jari Aalto <[email protected]>. Released under license GNU GPL v2 or (at your option) any later version. For more information about license, visit <http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html>.