Web Design

darkhttpd – simple, single-threaded, static content webserver

darkhttpd is a simple, single-threaded, static content web server.

It only serves static content.

This is free and open source software.

Key Features

  • Simple to set up:
    • Single binary, no other files, no installation needed.
    • Standalone, doesn’t need inetd or ucspi-tcp.
    • No messing around with config files – all you have to specify is the www root.
  • Written in C – efficient and portable.
  • Small memory footprint.
  • Event loop, single threaded – no fork() or pthreads.
  • Generates directory listings.
  • Supports HTTP GET and HEAD requests.
  • Supports Range / partial content. (try streaming music files or resuming a download)
  • Supports If-Modified-Since.
  • Supports Keep-Alive connections.
  • Supports IPv6.
  • Can serve 301 redirects based on Host header.
  • Uses sendfile() on FreeBSD, Solaris and Linux.
  • Can use acceptfilter on FreeBSD.
  • Security:
    • Can log accesses, including Referer and User-Agent.
    • Can chroot.
    • Can drop privileges.
    • Impervious to /../ sniffing.
    • Times out idle connections.
    • Drops overly long requests.

Website: github.com/emikulic/darkhttpd
Support:
Developer: Emil Mikulic
License: ISC License

darkhttpd is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.


Related Software

Static Web Servers
miniserveCLI tool to serve files and dirs over HTTP
serveStatic file serving and directory listing
binserveFast production-ready static web server
SuperstaticEnhanced static web server
darkhttpdA simple web server written in C; only serves static content
simple-http-server Simple static file server written in Rust
Static Web ServerHigh-performance and asynchronous web server
webfsSimple http server for mostly static content.
quarkSmall and simple HTTP GET/HEAD-only web server for static content
Websitino Lightweight static file server for local development
static-file-serverTiny, simple static file server

Read our verdict in the software roundup.


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