XS-HTTPD
Features
XS-httpd is a WWW server that includes the following features:- It is pronounced as "access HTTP daemon"
- It is small (very small in fact: a factor two to three smaller than normal servers on disk and in memory)
- It is fast (because it is so small and does not do unnecessary things)
- Uses very little CPU time
- Configurable (extensive configuration options for admins and users)
- Runs user CGI binaries under their own user ID!
- Gets users' pages under their own user ID, allowing them to really have protected pages (when combined with the built-in authentication mechanism)
- Does not fork for every connection (has a fixed number of servers)
- Comes with some other useful programs
- Offers Server-Side Includes for many common tasks, including built-in page counters (text or graphical)
- Supports PHP and other interpreted file formats
- Supports automatic decompression to save diskspace and bandwidth
- Serves SSL (https) and http connections through the same daemon
- Supports SSL client certificates (as means of authentication)
- Full support for IPv6
- Available under BSD license (since version 3.5)
Download
The latest release of XS-httpd is version 3.7 beta 27- Source distribution:
- Download via FTP
- FreeBSD ports:
- www/xshttpd
www/xshttpd-devel - Sourcemage spell:
- http/xshttpd
Requirements
To compile XS-httpd from source and install it on your system, all that is needed is a standard C compiler and the usual tools that come with it. It will work out of the box on most systems. Version 3.6 and newer need a C99 capable compiler to build (e.g. gcc version 3 or newer). However if you want additional features, extra software libraries are required.- openssl - for https encryption (required for 3.7)
- netpbm - for graphical counters in pages
- pcre - for regular expression matching
- openldap - for ldap authentication
- curl - for reverse proxy support
- gzip - for on-the-fly gzip (de)compression
- bzip - for on-the-fly bzip decompression
- magic - for better MIME file type detection
Documentation
The XS-httpd distribution includes the following manual pages:Binary executables: These manual pages document command line options of the main webserver daemon and the additional tools that are included in the distribution of XS-httpd.
- httpd (1) - XS-httpd webserver daemon
- httpdc (1) - control program for the daemon
- xsindex (1) - create a simple index file for a directory
- xspasswd (1) - manager for server authentication passwords
- readxs (1) - display counter file information
- clearxs (1) - daily update for the counter file
- imagemap (1) - the WWW server-side image mapper
- xschpass (1) - change authentication password via a webinterface
Configuration files: XS-httpd is very configurable, both for system administrators and for local users who may have their own homepages in the system.
- httpd.conf (5) - main configuration file
- xsconf (5) - local configuration file
- xsauth (5) - authentication password data
- xsredir (5) - webserver redirection file
- xsscripts (5) - file interpreter settings
Other concepts: These manual pages document the mechanism to dynamically generate content, using server side scripting or via special directives inside HTML pages.
- httpd_cgi (7) - Common Gateway Interface (CGI)
- httpd_ssi (7) - Server Side Includes (SSI)
Mailing lists
- Announcements - new releases and other important announcements
- Development - unmoderated discussion about server development
