3 ms·

By the way, is there a really minimal, really fast, reasonably secure, zero-cofig single-binary web server which would only support HTTP GET and just expose all

By the way, is there a really minimal, really fast, reasonably secure, zero-cofig single-binary web server which would only support HTTP GET and just expose all the static content in a given directory over it?

supriyo-biswas 3y ago
"caddy file-server"[1] and sirv-cli[2] should have you covered, but in case you're looking for something more niche and less powerful, you could look at busybox httpd[3]. I wrote something similar long ago in < 400 lines of Go (with most of it being templates and mimetype information) that just supports GET, HEAD and gzip, in case you're interested[4]. [1] https://caddyserver.com/docs/quick-starts/static-files https://caddyserver.com/docs/quick-starts/static-files [2] https://www.npmjs.com/package/sirv-cli https://www.npmjs.com/package/sirv-cli [3] https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/services/webserver/http.httpd https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/services/webserver/http.... [4] https://github.com/supriyo-biswas/gohttpd https://github.com/supriyo-biswas/gohttpd
- qwerty456127 3y ago
  Thanks, I'll take a look. I also care about it being reasonably secure so I don't write it myself (I'm far from a pro in avoiding vulnerabilities) and also prefer to decrease the attack surface by giving up all non-essential features. gzip is unnecessary because 99% of the traffic I would serve is going to be pre-compressed (like zip and jpeg files).
ricardobeat 3y ago
Caddy [1] is a single binary. It is not minimal, but the size difference is barely noticeable. serve also comes to mind. If you have node installed, `npx serve .` does exactly that. There are a few go projects that fit your description, none of them very popular, probably because they end up being a 100-line wrapper around http frameworks. [1] https://caddyserver.com/ https://caddyserver.com/
- busfahrer 3y ago
  Depending on the environment I'm in I either use `npx serve` or `python3 -m http.server` (aka `python2 -m SimpleHTTPServer`)
  - rmbyrro 3y ago
    Python http server is not intended for public exposure. It's meant for local usage in testing / debugging contexts.
- egeozcan 3y ago
  Caddy is amazing for simple static hosting AND more, if one needs it. With sqlite, postgres, D3.js and FFmpeg, it's up there in my software love list.
- qwerty456127 3y ago
  > It is not minimal, but the size difference is barely noticeable. Minimality is not about size, it's about reducing the attack surface. > There are a few go projects that fit your description, none of them very popular, probably because they end up being a 100-line wrapper around http frameworks. Indeed. Everyone can write their own but dependencies will make its attack surface enormous and performance will probably be mediocre at best.
rkeene2 3y ago
I wrote filed[0] for this. It is VERY fast in terms of low-latency (it doesn't even open the file its serving if it can help it) -- although it doesn't generate a dynamic directory listing, so it may not meet your needs if you want any dynamic content like that. [0] https://filed.rkeene.org/ https://filed.rkeene.org/
- cdaringe 3y ago
  actually readable C. kudos
  - rkeene2 3y ago
    Thanks, I've come a long way since my first C programs in the 90s, "sadly" lost to the sands of time. Earliest I can find is [0]. [0] https://rkeene.org/viewer/devel/vmi586/main.c.htm https://rkeene.org/viewer/devel/vmi586/main.c.htm
- xprueg 3y ago
  Should "test/plain" be "text/plain" "in mime.types?
  - rkeene2 3y ago
    Yes, thank you, it is now fixed :-)
beklein 3y ago
I can recommend redbean[1], it's basically a webserver and your static files in a zip file that is executable on basically any computer. It's also super small, includes TLS and reasonably fast. [1] https://redbean.dev https://redbean.dev
- eddd-ddde 3y ago
  TIL you can actually get a single binary to execute in multiple operating systems. Redbean in general seems great and really interesting.
kragen 3y ago
you might want to write your own; i hacked httpdito together for this purpose one weekend. you won't find anything that beats it on 'really minimal' by more than 2 kibibytes :) readme: http://canonical.org/~kragen/sw/dev3/httpdito-readme http://canonical.org/~kragen/sw/dev3/httpdito-readme source (single file): http://canonical.org/~kragen/sw/dev3/server.s http://canonical.org/~kragen/sw/dev3/server.s it might be reasonable to configure its port and mime types map on the command line instead of in the source, but at the moment it's arguably a bit too zero-configuration it runs on linux, can handle about 20000 hits per second, has about 20 kilobytes of memory footprint when idle, and needs another 4 kilobytes per concurrently open connection (though the kernel needs several times that) 20000 hits per second is not really fast in the sense that other servers on the same hardware and kernel can handle more than twice that, but it can saturate a gigabit pipe if your files average 7 kilobytes or more
Alifatisk 3y ago
Yeah, Vercel created a tool for such case called serve. https://www.npmjs.com/package/serve https://www.npmjs.com/package/serve
antihero 3y ago
This is that. Unless you mean having a directory listing, in which case, it is not.
PhilippGille 3y ago
I created this some years ago: https://github.com/philippgille/serve https://github.com/philippgille/serve It's written in Go, has zero third party dependencies, supports optional basic auth, and optional TLS cert generation (self signed) for local HTTPS. Not updated in a while though. And if you drop the requirement for minimalism I'd second the recommendation for Caddy instead.
dclowd9901 3y ago
Not sure what single binary means but here’s my take. https://github.com/dclowd9901/posse https://github.com/dclowd9901/posse
- KomoD 3y ago
  Single binary meaning you only need a single binary to run it, nothing else. Yours is not single binary nor zero config
  - dclowd9901 3y ago
    Helpful, thanks
Borg3 3y ago
You want adhoc HTTP server or daemon? I wrote my adhoc HTTP server for serving files from my desktop right away. If interested, leave comment, I can make it public.
adrianlv512 3y ago
Not sure if it meets all of your requirements, but what about using Crystal HTTP::Server[1] and building a fully statically linked[2] binary and deploying via a Docker scratch image[3] using a Multi-stage build[4]. Here's[5] an example I put together that I have running on fly.io[6]. I'm doing a redirect for root path, but it could easily be changed to serve up the contents of index.html. I use a similar deployment for a small site I created[7] to generate UUIDs. Kemal[8] also looks like a good alternative. ---- Update: Here's[9] an example also running on fly.io[10] using Kemal[8] [1] https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.11.2/HTTP/Server.html https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.11.2/HTTP/Server.html [2] https://crystal-lang.org/reference/1.11/guides/static_linking.html#fully-static-linking https://crystal-lang.org/reference/1.11/guides/static_linkin... [3] https://docs.docker.com/build/building/multi-stage/ https://docs.docker.com/build/building/multi-stage/ [4] https://hub.docker.com/_/scratch/ https://hub.docker.com/_/scratch/ [5] https://github.com/adrianlv512/minimal-server https://github.com/adrianlv512/minimal-server [6] https://minimal-server.fly.dev https://minimal-server.fly.dev [7] https://uuid-generator.org/ https://uuid-generator.org/ [8] https://kemalcr.com/ https://kemalcr.com/ [9] https://github.com/adrianlv512/minimal-server-kemal https://github.com/adrianlv512/minimal-server-kemal [10] https://minimal-server-kemal.fly.dev https://minimal-server-kemal.fly.dev
- dns_snek 3y ago
  I don't think anyone looking to just serve static files wants to touch a programming language, deal with any (additional) build steps, or run Docker. Especially the parent who expressed "minimal" as a requirement.
  - adrianlv512 3y ago
    Not sure this is true regarding Docker, e.g.: https://github.com/radiosilence/nano-web?tab=readme-ov-file#docker-quick-start https://github.com/radiosilence/nano-web?tab=readme-ov-file#... https://github.com/lipanski/docker-static-website https://github.com/lipanski/docker-static-website https://github.com/PierreZ/goStatic https://github.com/PierreZ/goStatic

supriyo-biswas 3y ago

"caddy file-server"[1] and sirv-cli[2] should have you covered, but in case you're looking for something more niche and less powerful, you could look at busybox httpd[3]. I wrote something similar long ago in < 400 lines of Go (with most of it being templates and mimetype information) that just supports GET, HEAD and gzip, in case you're interested[4]. [1] https://caddyserver.com/docs/quick-starts/static-files https://caddyserver.com/docs/quick-starts/static-files [2] https://www.npmjs.com/package/sirv-cli https://www.npmjs.com/package/sirv-cli [3] https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/services/webserver/http.httpd https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/services/webserver/http.... [4] https://github.com/supriyo-biswas/gohttpd https://github.com/supriyo-biswas/gohttpd

qwerty456127 3y ago
Thanks, I'll take a look. I also care about it being reasonably secure so I don't write it myself (I'm far from a pro in avoiding vulnerabilities) and also prefer to decrease the attack surface by giving up all non-essential features. gzip is unnecessary because 99% of the traffic I would serve is going to be pre-compressed (like zip and jpeg files).

ricardobeat 3y ago

Caddy [1] is a single binary. It is not minimal, but the size difference is barely noticeable. serve also comes to mind. If you have node installed, `npx serve .` does exactly that. There are a few go projects that fit your description, none of them very popular, probably because they end up being a 100-line wrapper around http frameworks. [1] https://caddyserver.com/ https://caddyserver.com/

busfahrer 3y ago
Depending on the environment I'm in I either use `npx serve` or `python3 -m http.server` (aka `python2 -m SimpleHTTPServer`)
- rmbyrro 3y ago
  Python http server is not intended for public exposure. It's meant for local usage in testing / debugging contexts.
egeozcan 3y ago
Caddy is amazing for simple static hosting AND more, if one needs it. With sqlite, postgres, D3.js and FFmpeg, it's up there in my software love list.
qwerty456127 3y ago
> It is not minimal, but the size difference is barely noticeable. Minimality is not about size, it's about reducing the attack surface. > There are a few go projects that fit your description, none of them very popular, probably because they end up being a 100-line wrapper around http frameworks. Indeed. Everyone can write their own but dependencies will make its attack surface enormous and performance will probably be mediocre at best.

rkeene2 3y ago

I wrote filed[0] for this. It is VERY fast in terms of low-latency (it doesn't even open the file its serving if it can help it) -- although it doesn't generate a dynamic directory listing, so it may not meet your needs if you want any dynamic content like that. [0] https://filed.rkeene.org/ https://filed.rkeene.org/

cdaringe 3y ago
actually readable C. kudos
- rkeene2 3y ago
  Thanks, I've come a long way since my first C programs in the 90s, "sadly" lost to the sands of time. Earliest I can find is [0]. [0] https://rkeene.org/viewer/devel/vmi586/main.c.htm https://rkeene.org/viewer/devel/vmi586/main.c.htm
xprueg 3y ago
Should "test/plain" be "text/plain" "in mime.types?
- rkeene2 3y ago
  Yes, thank you, it is now fixed :-)

beklein 3y ago

I can recommend redbean[1], it's basically a webserver and your static files in a zip file that is executable on basically any computer. It's also super small, includes TLS and reasonably fast. [1] https://redbean.dev https://redbean.dev

eddd-ddde 3y ago
TIL you can actually get a single binary to execute in multiple operating systems. Redbean in general seems great and really interesting.

kragen 3y ago

you might want to write your own; i hacked httpdito together for this purpose one weekend. you won't find anything that beats it on 'really minimal' by more than 2 kibibytes :) readme: http://canonical.org/~kragen/sw/dev3/httpdito-readme http://canonical.org/~kragen/sw/dev3/httpdito-readme source (single file): http://canonical.org/~kragen/sw/dev3/server.s http://canonical.org/~kragen/sw/dev3/server.s it might be reasonable to configure its port and mime types map on the command line instead of in the source, but at the moment it's arguably a bit too zero-configuration it runs on linux, can handle about 20000 hits per second, has about 20 kilobytes of memory footprint when idle, and needs another 4 kilobytes per concurrently open connection (though the kernel needs several times that) 20000 hits per second is not really fast in the sense that other servers on the same hardware and kernel can handle more than twice that, but it can saturate a gigabit pipe if your files average 7 kilobytes or more

Alifatisk 3y ago

Yeah, Vercel created a tool for such case called serve. https://www.npmjs.com/package/serve https://www.npmjs.com/package/serve

antihero 3y ago

This is that. Unless you mean having a directory listing, in which case, it is not.

PhilippGille 3y ago

I created this some years ago: https://github.com/philippgille/serve https://github.com/philippgille/serve It's written in Go, has zero third party dependencies, supports optional basic auth, and optional TLS cert generation (self signed) for local HTTPS. Not updated in a while though. And if you drop the requirement for minimalism I'd second the recommendation for Caddy instead.

dclowd9901 3y ago

Not sure what single binary means but here’s my take. https://github.com/dclowd9901/posse https://github.com/dclowd9901/posse

KomoD 3y ago
Single binary meaning you only need a single binary to run it, nothing else. Yours is not single binary nor zero config
- dclowd9901 3y ago
  Helpful, thanks

Borg3 3y ago

You want adhoc HTTP server or daemon? I wrote my adhoc HTTP server for serving files from my desktop right away. If interested, leave comment, I can make it public.

adrianlv512 3y ago

Not sure if it meets all of your requirements, but what about using Crystal HTTP::Server[1] and building a fully statically linked[2] binary and deploying via a Docker scratch image[3] using a Multi-stage build[4]. Here's[5] an example I put together that I have running on fly.io[6]. I'm doing a redirect for root path, but it could easily be changed to serve up the contents of index.html. I use a similar deployment for a small site I created[7] to generate UUIDs. Kemal[8] also looks like a good alternative. ---- Update: Here's[9] an example also running on fly.io[10] using Kemal[8] [1] https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.11.2/HTTP/Server.html https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.11.2/HTTP/Server.html [2] https://crystal-lang.org/reference/1.11/guides/static_linking.html#fully-static-linking https://crystal-lang.org/reference/1.11/guides/static_linkin... [3] https://docs.docker.com/build/building/multi-stage/ https://docs.docker.com/build/building/multi-stage/ [4] https://hub.docker.com/_/scratch/ https://hub.docker.com/_/scratch/ [5] https://github.com/adrianlv512/minimal-server https://github.com/adrianlv512/minimal-server [6] https://minimal-server.fly.dev https://minimal-server.fly.dev [7] https://uuid-generator.org/ https://uuid-generator.org/ [8] https://kemalcr.com/ https://kemalcr.com/ [9] https://github.com/adrianlv512/minimal-server-kemal https://github.com/adrianlv512/minimal-server-kemal [10] https://minimal-server-kemal.fly.dev https://minimal-server-kemal.fly.dev

dns_snek 3y ago
I don't think anyone looking to just serve static files wants to touch a programming language, deal with any (additional) build steps, or run Docker. Especially the parent who expressed "minimal" as a requirement.
- adrianlv512 3y ago
  Not sure this is true regarding Docker, e.g.: https://github.com/radiosilence/nano-web?tab=readme-ov-file#docker-quick-start https://github.com/radiosilence/nano-web?tab=readme-ov-file#... https://github.com/lipanski/docker-static-website https://github.com/lipanski/docker-static-website https://github.com/PierreZ/goStatic https://github.com/PierreZ/goStatic