This project is a basic HTTP server written in C++98. The standards listed below (HTTP/CGI) are not completely implemented and were rather seen as a guideline to implement a usable server than a "to be followed requirement".
| Functionality | Description | External info |
|---|---|---|
| HTTP | HTTP/1.1 | RFC 2616 / RFC 9110 / RFC 9112 |
| CGI | CGI/1.1 (Tested with php-cgi, using wordpress, and python cgi) | RFC 3875 |
| Implemented methods | GET / HEAD / OPTIONS / POST / PUT / DELETE | RFC 2616 section 5.1.1 |
| Basic cookie support | Tested with wordpress | RFC 2109 |
| Argument flags | To description | - |
| Configuration file | To description | - |
docker pull pythongermany/webserv
Pull the docker image
make docker.build
make docker.run
Build and run the standalone webserver image
make -C docker up
Create a mariadb docker container for the database another container which will setup wordpress, compile webserv execute it. To populate the container env credentials you can make a copy of the .env-example file and rename it to .env, make sure to change the default values according to your needs.
make [performance|debug|fsanitize]
./webserv [configuration_file] [ [-i|-h|-v|-c|-t] | [-o|-l|-a|-e ARGUMENT] ...]
Default configuration file: /etc/webserv/webserv.conf
A flag overwrites the default setting as well as the ones that are configured in the config file.
| Flag | Description | Allowed values |
|---|---|---|
| i | Show info block when starting the server | - |
| h | Show help message and exit | - |
| v | Show version of webserv and exit | - |
| c | Show parsed config file structure and exit | - |
| t | Check if the config file syntax is valid and exit | - |
| o | Controls log_to_terminal | on/off |
| l | Controls log_level | 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 for error / warning / info / debug / verbose |
| a | Controls access_log | PATH |
| e | Controls error_log | PATH |
Flags can be utilized to configure an option directly from the start of the program instead of only after the configuration has been read and parsed.
./webserv [configuration_file] -s on -l 2 -a PATH
You can look at the parsing debug output by setting the flag o to on and the flag l to 3 or higher, this will override the default setting before the config has been read, parsed and applied. If you also want to write the parsing log messages to a file the flag a needs to be set to the PATH you want the log file to be. Those steps are necessary because even if you specify all the previous flag settings in the config file they will only be applied after having successfully loaded your config settings, which will, of course, happen after the config file has been parsed.
The configuration file is used to define the configuration of the webserver. It is composed of directives. A directive is composed of a name arguments and a value. The value can be a string or a block. A block is a list of directives. The file webserv.conf demonstrates the default configuration of the webserv executable.
| Config type | Options |
|---|---|
| Configuration file context | http / location / server |
| Configuration file directives | access_log / alias / allow / autoindex / cgi / cgi_timeout / client_timeout / error_log / error_page / include / index / listen / log_level / log_to_terminal / max_client_body_size / redirect / root / server_name / server_tokens / type |
http {
include PATH;
types {
[directives]
}
cgi_timeout NUMBER;
client_timeout NUMBER;
access_log PATH;
error_log PATH;
log_to_terminal [on|off];
log_level LEVEL;
server_tokens [on|off];
server {
[directives]
}
}Root context. It contains the global configuration of the webserver.
Allowed tokens: access_log / cgi_timeout / client_timeout/ error_log / include / log_level / log_to_terminal / server / server_tokens / types
types {
type MIME_TYPE EXTENSION [EXTENSION ...];
}Types context. It contains the mime types of the server. The file mime.types provides an extensive default configuration for this context.
Allowed tokens: type
server {
server_tokens [on|off];
listen HOST:PORT;
server_name NAME [NAME ...];
root PATH;
index FILE [FILE ...];
autoindex [on|off];
max_client_body_size SIZE[k|m];
allow METHOD [METHOD ...];
error_page CODE PATH;
cgi EXTENSION PATH;
location PATH {
[directives]
}
}Virtual server context. It contains the configuration of a virtual server.
Allowed tokens: allow / autoindex / cgi / error_page / index / listen / location / max_client_body_size / root / server_name / server_tokens
location PATH {
alias PATH;
root PATH;
index FILE [FILE ...];
allow METHOD [METHOD ...];
autoindex [on|off];
redirect URL;
max_client_body_size SIZE;
cgi EXTENSTION PATH;
}Location context for PATH. It contains the configuration of a location.
Allowed tokens: alias / allow / autoindex / cgi / index / max_client_body_size / redirect / root
access_log PATH;Sets the path of the access log file.
Default: /var/log/webserv/access.log
Allowed in: Http
alias PATH;Set an alias path. Example request for alias PATH: GET /LOCATION_CONTEXT_PATH/file -> ROOT/PATH/file
Allowed in: Location
allow METHOD [METHOD ...];Sets the allowed methods for a context.
Default: GET / HEAD / OPTIONS
Allowed in: Http / Location
autoindex [on|off];Enables or disables the directory listing for a context
Default: off
Allowed in: Http / Location
cgi EXTENSTION PATH;Sets the cgi EXECUTABLE to path for EXTENSION.
Allowed in: Location / Server
cgi_timeout NUMBER;Sets the cgi timeout in milliseconds.
Default: 30000
Allowed in: Http
client_timout NUMBER;Sets the client timeout in milliseconds.
Default: 30000
Allowed in: Http
error_log PATH;Sets the path of the error log file.
Default: /var/log/webserv/error.log
Allowed in: Http
error_page CODE PATH;Sets a custom error page for the given status code.
Allowed in: Server
include PATH;Include other configuration files. Supports * wildcard character
Allowed in: Cgi / Http / Location / Server
index FILE [FILE ...];Sets the index files for a context
Allowed in: Location / Server
listen HOST:PORT;Sets the host and port of the server.
Allowed in: Server
log_level LEVEL;Set the log level. Allowed log levels are debug, info, warning, error and verbose.
Default: info
Allowed in: Http
log_to_terminal [on|off];Sets whether logs should also be displayed on the terminal.
Default: off
Allowed in: Http
max_client_body_size SIZE[k|m];Sets the maximum body size for a client request message. 1k is 1024 bytes, 1m is 1024k.
Default: 1m
Allowed in: Location / Server
redirect URL;Redirects the request of the context to the given url.
Allowed in: Location / Server
root PATH;Sets the root path for a context.
Allowed in: Location / Server
server_name NAME [NAME ...];Sets the server names.
Allowed in: Server
server_tokens [on|off];
Enables or disables emitting server version in error messages and in the Server response header field. Allowed in: Http / Server
type MIME_TYPE EXTENSION [EXTENSION ...];Set the mime type for the given extensions.
Allowed in: Types
# File -> /etc/webserv/mime.types
types {
type text/html html htm;
type text/css css;
type text/javascript js;
type image/jpeg jpeg jpg;
type image/png png;
type image/svg+xml svg;
type image/gif gif;
}# File -> /etc/webserv/webserv.conf
http {
include /etc/webserv/mime.types;
cgi_timeout 30000;
client_timeout 30000;
log_to_terminal off;
log_level info;
access_log /var/log/webserv/access.log;
error_log /var/log/webserv/error.log;
include /etc/webserv/sites-enabled/*;
}# File -> /etc/webserv/sites-enabled/server.conf
server {
listen 8080;
server_tokens on;
root /var/www/html;
index index.html index.htm;
autoindex on;
max_client_body_size 1m;
allow GET HEAD OPTIONS;
error_page 404 /404.html;
cgi php /usr/bin/php-cgi;
location /example {
alias /www; # Request: GET /example/file -> ROOT/www/file
index example.html;
allow GET HEAD OPTIONS PUT DELETE;
autoindex off;
}
location /search {
redirect https://www.duckduckgo.com;
}
}./webserv [-i]