lighttpd

lighttpd
Original author(s)	Jan Kneschke
Initial release	March 2003; 21 years ago
Stable release	1.4.76 / 12 April 2024; 0 days ago
Preview release	1.4.76 (April 12, 2024; 0 days ago) [±]
Repository	git.lighttpd.net/lighttpd ;
Written in	C
Available in	English
Type	Web server
License	BSD-3-Clause
Website	www.lighttpd.net

lighttpd (prescribed pronunciation: "lighty")

proof-of-concept of the c10k problem – how to handle 10,000 connections in parallel on one server,^[3]

but has gained worldwide popularity.

portmanteau of "light" and "httpd

".

Premise

The low memory footprint (compared to other web servers),

BSD license. It runs natively on Unix-like operating systems, as well as Microsoft Windows.^[7]

APC) properly and efficiently. Additionally, it has received attention from its popularity within the Python, Perl, Ruby and Lua communities. Lighttpd also supports WebDNA, the resilient in-memory database system designed to build database-driven websites. It is a popular web server for the Catalyst and Ruby on Rails web frameworks. Lighttpd does not support ISAPI

.

Features

HTTP proxy, Servlet AJP, WebSocket
tunnel support

chroot support
Web server event mechanism performance – select(), poll(), and epoll()^[8]
Support for more efficient
event notification schemes like kqueue and epoll

Conditional

URL rewriting

(mod_rewrite)

TLS/SSL with SNI support, via OpenSSL, GnuTLS, Mbed TLS, NSS, WolfSSL.^[9]
Authentication against an LDAP or DBI server
RRDtool statistics
Rule-based downloading with possibility of a script handling only authentication
Server Side Includes support (but not server-side CGI from SSI)^[10]
Flexible virtual hosting
Modules support
Lua programming language scripts via mod_magnet^[11]
WebDAV support
HTTP compression using mod_deflate (zlib, brotli, zstd)
Light-weight (less than 1 MB)^[12]
Single-process design with only several threads. No processes or threads started per connection.
HTTP/2 support since lighttpd 1.4.56
HTTP/2 WebSocket support since lighttpd 1.4.65

Limitations

Versions below 1.4.40 do not officially support sending large files from CGI, FastCGI, or proxies^[13] unless X-Sendfile is used. This limitation has been removed in lighttpd 1.4.40.^[14]
No HTTP/3 support

Usage

Lighttpd was used in the past by several high-traffic websites, including

better source needed] The Wikimedia Foundation also once ran Lighttpd servers.^[16]

Due to relatively small size it's often used in embedded devices like GL.iNet and Turris Omnia.

It's also used by git as a HTTP server daemon.

References

^ "1.4.76". 12 April 2024. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
^ "lighttpd fly light". Retrieved 2010-06-13. all of these describe lighttpd (pron. lighty).
^ "lighttpd: Story". lighttpd.net. Retrieved 22 December 2008.
^ "Powered By lighttpd". Lighttpd wiki. Retrieved 22 December 2008.
^ "Web Server Performance Comparison". Archived from the original on 5 June 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2012..
^ Gabriel Kerneis and Juliusz Chroboczek. Are events fast?. PPS technical report, University of Paris 7. 2009.
^ "lighttpd release 1.4.70". Retrieved 2023-05-10.
^ Gammo, Louay; Brecht, Tim; Shukla, Amol; Pariag, David (2004). "Comparing and Evaluating epoll, select, and poll Event Mechanisms" (PDF). Linux Symposium. University of Waterloo. p. 215.
^ gstrauss (2020-11-29). "1.4.56 - Lighttpd - fly light". Lighttpd. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
^ Lighttpd - Bug #1101: SSI include virtual does not run cgi – lighty labs
^ "Docs ModMagnet - Lighttpd - lighty labs".
^ "lighttpd releases". lighttpd.net. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
^ "Memory usage increases when proxy+ssl+large file". lighttpd bug tracker. Retrieved 2011-04-11.
^ "lighty should buffer responses (after it grows above certain size) on disk". lighttpd bug tracker. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
^ "Fly Light With Lighttpd Web Server". ServerWatch. Archived from the original on 31 March 2014. Retrieved 2008-02-12.
^ "Powered by Lighttpd". The official site. 2007-04-04. Retrieved 2008-12-22. lighttpd is used by many well-known sites. The typical scenario is using lighttpd as off-load server to push out static content and leave the complex work to another server.

External links

Official website

[wikidata-8d1df1217312ec5ff213774692f53210a422604c-v11-1] "1.4.76". 12 April 2024. Retrieved 12 April 2024.

[2] "lighttpd fly light". Retrieved 2010-06-13. all of these describe lighttpd (pron. lighty).

[3] "lighttpd: Story". lighttpd.net. Retrieved 22 December 2008.

[4] "Powered By lighttpd". Lighttpd wiki. Retrieved 22 December 2008.

[5] "Web Server Performance Comparison". Archived from the original on 5 June 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2012..

[6] Gabriel Kerneis and Juliusz Chroboczek. Are events fast?. PPS technical report, University of Paris 7. 2009.

[7] "lighttpd release 1.4.70". Retrieved 2023-05-10.

[8] Gammo, Louay; Brecht, Tim; Shukla, Amol; Pariag, David (2004). "Comparing and Evaluating epoll, select, and poll Event Mechanisms" (PDF). Linux Symposium. University of Waterloo. p. 215.

[9] strauss (2020-11-29). "1.4.56 - Lighttpd - fly light". Lighttpd. Retrieved 2023-06-02.

[10] Lighttpd - Bug #1101: SSI include virtual does not run cgi – lighty labs

[11] "Docs ModMagnet - Lighttpd - lighty labs".

[12] "lighttpd releases". lighttpd.net. Retrieved 20 June 2010.

[13] "Memory usage increases when proxy+ssl+large file". lighttpd bug tracker. Retrieved 2011-04-11.

[14] "lighty should buffer responses (after it grows above certain size) on disk". lighttpd bug tracker. Retrieved 2016-07-16.

[15] "Fly Light With Lighttpd Web Server". ServerWatch. Archived from the original on 31 March 2014. Retrieved 2008-02-12.

[16] "Powered by Lighttpd". The official site. 2007-04-04. Retrieved 2008-12-22. lighttpd is used by many well-known sites. The typical scenario is using lighttpd as off-load server to push out static content and leave the complex work to another server.

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Retired	Boa CERN httpd Mongrel NCSA HTTPd Xitami Zeus