📖 42-Webserv

About · Running · Configuration · Key features

💡 About the project

This is when you finally understand why a URL starts with HTTP.

This project is about writing a HTTP/1.1 server.

🚀 Running the server

make run

It will automatically compile the project and run it.

./webserv [configuration file]

Will launch the previously compiled project with make and run it. (configuration file must be a valid .conf file see section below)

💻 Configurating the server

It will allow you to setup the following parameters :

name -- define the server name
listen:port -- to configure on which port the server will be listening (only one listen per server block)
methods -- to set the authorized HTTP request (GET | POST | DELETE)
location -- to set parameters for a specific route
index -- to serve a default file if none match the requested URI
root -- to route the requested URI to another directory
upload -- to set a specific directory for upload requests
listing -- to list all files present in the targeted directory (ON | OFF)
error -- to define the page to display when an error occurs, add a default page if none is provided in the .conf file.
cgi -- to configure a cgi to execute for a specific file extenstion (.php | .py | .pl)
redirection -- to define a redirection to a location or to an another server

{
    name server
    listen 0.0.0.0:8080
    methods GET POST
    body_size 1000000000000
    root ./rsrcs
    upload /upload
    index index.html
    error 404 404.html
    location /cookie
        root ./rsrcs/cookie
        index cookie.html
        methods GET
    location /cgi
        root ./rsrcs/cgi
        listing ON
        cgi .py .php
        methods GET POST
    location /intra
        root ./rsrcs/intra
        index intra.html
        methods GET
    location /listing
        listing ON
        error 403 403.html
        error 404 404.html
        root ./rsrcs/listing
        methods GET
    location /listing/403.html
        root ./rsrcs/listing/403.html
    location /listing/404.html
        root ./rsrcs/listing/404.html
    location /listing/1/2/3
        redirection /listing
    location /upload
        root ./rsrcs/upload
        methods GET DELETE
    location /redirection
        redirection https://fr.wikipedia.org/
}

📜 Key Features

Configuration Flexibility
-- Accepts a custom configuration file or defaults to a predefined path
Non-Blocking Architecture
-- Uses a single select() (or equivalent) per server for all I/O operations, including listening and client communication
Efficient Resource Management
-- Handles all read/write operations via select(), optimizing resource usage and preventing blocking
HTTP Methods
-- Supports GET, POST, and DELETE
File Uploads
-- Allows clients to upload files directly to the server
Static File Serving
-- Serves static websites
Accurate HTTP Responses
-- Delivers precise status codes along with a specified error page or a default one
CGI Integration
-- Supports CGI execution (e.g., PHP, Python, Perl, ...)
Multi-Port Listening
-- Listens on multiple ports as defined in the configuration file
Browser Compatibility
-- Compliant with HTTP 1.1 standards.
Handle Cookies
-- A small cookie clicker has been made to show the implementation of the cookies
Keep-alive connection
-- Connection is kept alive if possible
Time out
-- Timeout for CGI and basic requests