httpdx - Minimal HTTP Server

A minimal, lightweight HTTP server inspired by BusyBox httpd. Designed for resource-constrained and embedded environments.

Features

• GET requests only: Full HTTP/1.1 support for GET method
• Static file serving: Serves files from configurable document root
• MIME type detection: Recognizes 25+ common file types
• Logging: Access logging with timestamps (optional)
• Directory listing: Optional directory index listing (similar to Apache/Nginx)
• Small binary: ~75 KB stripped executable on Windows
• Standard library only: No external dependencies, can be statically compiled
• Cross-platform: Works on Linux, Windows (MinGW)

Building

Linux

# Default build
make

# With directory listing enabled
make ENABLE_DIR_LISTING=1

# With debug mode
make ENABLE_DEBUG_MODE=1

# With custom version
make VERSION="1.0.0"

Windows (MinGW)

# Default build
gcc -Wall -Wextra -Oz -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -fomit-frame-pointer "-Wl,--gc-sections" -DENABLE_DIR_LISTING=1 httpd.c -o httpd.exe -lws2_32

# Using Makefile
make

Compile Flags

• ENABLE_DIR_LISTING: Enable directory listing (0/1, default: 0)
• ENABLE_DEBUG_MODE: Enable debug logging to stderr (0/1, default: 0)
• ENABLE_FOOTER: Show "Powered by httpdx" footer in dir listing (0/1, default: 1)
• VERSION: Version string displayed with -v flag (default: dev)

Usage

./httpd [options]

Options

• -p PORT - Port to listen on (default: 8080)
• -d ROOT - Document root directory (default: current directory)
• -v - Show version
• -h - Show help message

Examples

# Listen on port 8080, serve current directory
./httpd

# Listen on port 80, serve /var/www
./httpd -p 80 -d /var/www

MIME Types Supported

Text files:

• HTML, plain text, CSS, CSV, XML

Scripting:

• JavaScript (.js, .mjs), JSON

Fonts:

• WOFF, WOFF2, TTF, OTF, EOT

Images:

• PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, SVG, ICO

Media:

• MP4, WebM, MP3, WAV

Archives:

• ZIP, TAR, GZIP

Default: application/octet-stream for unknown types

Limitations

• No HTTPS/TLS support
• No configuration files (CLI only)
• Sequential request handling (small concurrent connections)
• HTTP/1.1 only
• GET requests only
• No CGI/scripting support

Portability

Tested on:

• Linux (GCC)
• Windows 10+ (MinGW GCC)

Should work on any platform with POSIX sockets or Windows Winsock2 API.

License

MIT - use freely in any project.