Lighttpd

lighttpd
Original author(s)	Jan Kneschke
Initial release	March 2003; 21 years ago
Stable release	1.4.77 / 10 January 2025; 13 days ago
Preview release	1.4.77 (January 10, 2025; 13 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")^[2] is an open-source web server optimized for speed-critical environments while remaining standards-compliant, secure and flexible.^{[citation needed]} It was originally written by Jan Kneschke as a proof-of-concept of the c10k problem – how to handle 10,000 connections in parallel on one server,^[3] but has gained worldwide popularity.^[4] Its name is a portmanteau of "light" and "httpd".

Premise

The low memory footprint (compared to other web servers),^[5] small CPU load and speed optimizations^[6] make lighttpd suitable for servers that are suffering load problems, or for serving static media separately from dynamic content. lighttpd is free and open-source software and is distributed under the BSD license. It runs natively on Unix-like operating systems, with experimental support for Microsoft Windows.^[7]

Application support

lighttpd supports the FastCGI, SCGI and CGI interfaces to external programs, allowing web applications written in any programming language to be used with the server. As a particularly popular language, PHP performance has received special attention. Lighttpd's FastCGI can be configured to support PHP with opcode caches (like 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

Load balancing, CGI, FastCGI, SCGI, 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
TLS Encryped Client Hello (ECH) support since lighttpd 1.4.77^[13]

Limitations

Versions below 1.4.40 do not officially support sending large files from CGI, FastCGI, or proxies^[14] unless X-Sendfile is used. This limitation has been removed in lighttpd 1.4.40.^[15]
No HTTP/3 support

Usage

Lighttpd was used in the past by several high-traffic websites, including Bloglines, xkcd, Meebo, and YouTube.^[16]^{[better source needed]} The Wikimedia Foundation also once ran Lighttpd servers.^[17] 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

^ "1.4.77". 10 January 2025. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
^ "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.
^ "lighttpd TLS ECH".
^ "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-016be8e7a7411562ac6cf23a9d9a0c04b6b95b73-v18-1] "1.4.77". 10 January 2025. Retrieved 10 January 2025.

[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] "lighttpd TLS ECH".

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

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

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

[17] "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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