C++ HTTP Server

A lightweight HTTP server implemented in C++ supporting GET and POST requests, file handling, echo functionality, and gzip compression. Built for learning and experimentation with socket programming and HTTP protocols.

---

Setup (PORT 4221)

g++ -std=c++17 -pthread -lz -o server server.cpp ./server [--directory /path/to/base]

---

Features

1. HTTP Request Handling

• Supports GET and POST methods.
• Parses HTTP request headers and body.
• Supports standard HTTP headers including Content-Length, Accept-Encoding, and Connection.

2. Routing

• / : Returns a simple 200 OK response.
• /echo/<message> : Returns the message part of the path as the response body.
• /user-agent : Returns the value of the User-Agent header.
• /files/<filename> :
  • GET: Reads and returns file content from the server directory.
  • POST: Writes request body to a file in the server directory.

3. File Handling

• Supports reading and writing files in the server’s base directory.
• Uses binary-safe I/O for file content.
• Returns 404 Not Found if a file is missing.

4. Gzip Compression

• Automatically compresses response body if client includes Accept-Encoding: gzip.
• Adds Content-Encoding: gzip header for compressed responses.
• Uses zlib for GZIP compression.

5. Connection Management

• Handles multiple clients concurrently using threads.
• Supports Connection: close header to properly close client connections.
• Safely handles client disconnects and socket errors.

6. Custom Base Directory

• Default base directory is the current directory (.).
• Can be overridden using command line argument:

./server --directory /path/to/base