[Feature Request] Dynamic FILE_SERVER_ROOT setting based on current hostname

[YanzheL]

Deployment environment

The seafile server and seahub server are hosted at the same host in a private network, for example:

• Seafile server listen on 10.0.0.1:8082
• Seahub server listen on 10.0.0.1:8000
• A reverse proxy (e.g Nginx) listen on 10.0.0.1:80, this is the main entry point for user.

Current use case

If I use
SERVICE_URL = http://10.0.0.1 and FILE_SERVER_ROOT = http://10.0.0.1/seafhttp

then users on the private network can visit the Seafile service by http://10.0.0.1 and do upload/download without any problem.

Desired use case

Now I want to public the Seafile service to public network.

I have another server on public network with a domain abc.example.com, and I successfully set up a reverse proxy that redirecting local port 10.0.0.1:80 to abc.example.com:80.

So I use this setting:
SERVICE_URL = http://abc.example.com and FILE_SERVER_ROOT = http://abc.example.com/seafhttp

Now users on public network can reach the Seafile service by http://abc.example.com/seafhttp and do upload/download without any problem.

However, the FILE_SERVER_ROOT URL variable is used in frontend js. It means that the actual upload/download is requested against this URL by user's browser.

This leads to a problem that users on private network will do the upload/download request through this public address http://abc.example.com/seafhttp instead of a private address http://10.0.0.1/seafhttp, which is not a desired behavior. It's not necessary for private network users to request that public URL because requests in private network are generally much more faster than going through a public reverse proxy.

Two possible solutions

1. Seahub as a proxy.

   It's not necessary to expose the actual file server URL to users. Seahub server can act as a proxy that retrieves files from backend Seafile server and serve this file to users directly. So users will only "see" one hostname during the whole procedure.

   This solution requires Seahub to be a proxy, which may lead to performance issues and API changes, but the idea is straightforward.

2. Dynamic file server URL.

   If users visit the service by http://abc.example.com, then the file server URL used in frontend is http://abc.example.com/seafhttp.

   If users visit the service by http://10.0.0.1, then the file server URL used in frontend is http://10.0.0.1/seafhttp.

   This is easy to implement in frontend js.

   var fileServerRoot = window.location.hostname + FILE_SERVER_PATH;

   The FILE_SERVER_PATH variable is configurable through admin manage page. Its value is /seafhttp in this case.

   This solution requires seafile server and seahub server are reachable under the same hostname, which is a very common and practical use case.

   This is what I recommend and the benefit of this solution is really impressive. So I suggest you can provide an option in admin settings to enable this feature. Thanks.

[YanzheL]

I figured it out, just set the FILE_SERVER_ROOT with /seafhttp. The important part is to omit the host prefix.

[HanTango]

非常感谢。
Thanks a lot.