HTTP_server_C

A lightweight HTTP server implementation in C that handles basic web requests, serves static files, generates directory listings, and supports CGI script execution.

Features

• HTTP Request Handling: Processes GET and HEAD requests from web browsers
• Static File Serving: Serves various file types with appropriate types
• Directory Listing: Generates HTML listings for directory contents
• CGI Support: Executes and serves CGI scripts
• Concurrent Access: Handles multiple client connections using process forking
• Error Handling: Custom error pages with Arabic messages

Configuration

Default settings:

• Port: 8080 (you can check if the port is in use by lsof -i :8080)
• Buffer Size: 2048 bytes
• Default page: index.html

Building the Project

1. Clone the repository
2. build the project and run it

The server will start listening on port 8080 by default. (can be changed from server.c)

2. Access the server:

• Open a web browser and navigate to http://localhost:8080 or any loopback ip with the choosen port.
• Or use cURL from your terminal: curl http://localhost:8080

Project Structure

• server.c: Main server implementation (socket handling and connection management)
• http.c: HTTP protocol implementation (request parsing, response generation)
• http.h: Header file containing function declarations and constants

Supported Features

1. Directory Listing

When accessing a directory, the server generates an HTML page listing all files and subdirectories.

2. File Serving

Supports various file types including:

• HTML (.html, .htm)
• CSS (.css)
• JavaScript (.js)
• Images (.png, .jpg, .jpeg)
• Text files (.txt)

3. CGI Execution (make sure the script is executable. if not use: chmod +x [script.cgi])

• Files with .cgi extension are executed as CGI scripts
• Script output is captured and sent to the client

4. Error Handling

Custom error pages for:

• 400 Bad Request
• 403 Forbidden
• 404 Not Found
• 405 Method Not Allowed
• 500 Internal Server Error