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cpp-web-server

README.md

C++ Web Server

Project Structure

cpp-web-server/
├── includes/          # Header files
│   ├── request.h
│   ├── response.h
│   ├── router.h
│   └── server.h
├── src/               # Source files
│   ├── main.cpp
│   ├── request.cpp
│   ├── response.cpp
│   ├── router.cpp
│   └── server.cpp
├── config/            # Configuration files
│   └── server.config
├── public/            # Directory for HTML files
│   └── index.html
├── .editorconfig      # Editor configuration
├── Makefile           # Makefile for building the project
├── README.md          # Project documentation
└── .gitignore         # Git ignore file

Building the Project

Compiler and Flags

  • CXX: The variable for the C++ compiler.
  • CXXFLAGS: Contains the flags passed to the C++ compiler:
    • -Wall: Enables all the warnings about constructions that some users consider questionable.
    • -Wextra: Enables additional warning flags that are not enabled by -Wall.
    • -Iincludes: Tells the compiler to add the includes directory to the list of directories to be searched for header files.
    • -std=c++17: Specifies the C++ standard to be used.

Directories

  • SRCDIR: The directory containing the source files.
  • INCDIR: The directory containing the header files.
  • BUILDDIR: The directory where object files will be stored.
  • BINDIR: The directory where the final executable will be placed.
  • TARGET: The final executable file to be built.

Source and Object Files

  • SOURCES: Contains all the .cpp files in the SRCDIR directory.
  • OBJECTS: Derived from SOURCES by replacing the source directory prefix and .cpp extension with the build directory prefix and .o extension.

Makefile

This Makefile compiles and links the C++ source files to build the web server.

Important Variables

  • CXX and CXXFLAGS: Compiler and its flags.
  • SRCDIR, INCDIR, BUILDDIR, BINDIR: Directories for source, includes, build objects, and binary respectively.
  • SOURCES and OBJECTS: Lists of source and object files.

Key Rules

  • $(TARGET): Links object files to create the executable.
  • $(BUILDDIR)/%.o: Compiles source files into object files.
  • $(BUILDDIR) and $(BINDIR): Create necessary directories if they do not exist.
  • clean: Removes generated files.

Building the Project

To build the project, run the following command:

make

Running the Server

To run the server, execute the built binary:

./bin/webserver

Note: The server will prompt you to enter the port number and the base path to serve files from. This base path can be relative or absolute, and can be a directory or a specific file.

Example Usage

Using a Relative Path for a Directory

Enter the port number: 8080
Enter the base path to serve files from: ./public

Using an Absolute Path for a Directory

Enter the port number: 8080
Enter the base path to serve files from: /home/mahmoud/STmicro-System-Programming-under-Linux/05.Advanced/Tasks/cpp-web-server/public

Using a Relative Path for a Specific File

Enter the port number: 8080
Enter the base path to serve files from: ./public/index.html

Using an Absolute Path for a Specific File

Enter the port number: 8080
Enter the base path to serve files from: /home/mahmoud/STmicro-System-Programming-under-Linux/05.Advanced/Tasks/cpp-web-server/public/index.html

You can then access index.html from the public directory using your browser:

http://127.0.0.1:8080/index.html

Why Specify the Base Path?

Specifying the base path allows the server to dynamically serve files from a given directory or a specific file. This is useful for development and deployment flexibility, ensuring that the server can serve files from the specified directory or file without hardcoding paths.

Server Implementation

The server is implemented using a basic class structure with Server, Request, Response, and Router classes.

Server

The Server class is responsible for setting up the server, listening for incoming connections, and handling client requests.

Request

The Request class parses HTTP requests.

Response

The Response class constructs HTTP responses.

Router

The Router class handles routing of requests to appropriate responses.

Utilities

Utility functions such as readFile are provided to help with common tasks like reading files.

Configuration

You can modify the server configuration in config/server.config.

HTML Files

Place your HTML files in the public directory. For example, public/index.html can be accessed via http://127.0.0.1:8080/.

Example index.html

Create an index.html file in the public directory with the following content:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
    <title>Simple Web Server</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Hello, World!</h1>
  </body>
</html>

Testing the Server

Using netcat

  1. Start the server:

    ./bin/webserver

  2. Create a request file request.txt with the correct newline format:

    echo -e "GET / HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: 127.0.0.1\r\n\r\n" > request.txt

  3. Send the request using nc:

    nc 127.0.0.1 8080 < request.txt

Alternatively, you can enter the request interactively using <<EOF:

nc 127.0.0.1 8080 <<EOF
GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: 127.0.0.1

EOF

Using telnet

  1. Start the server:

    ./bin/webserver

  2. Open another terminal and connect using telnet:

    telnet 127.0.0.1 8080

  3. Send an HTTP GET request:

    GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: 127.0.0.1

  4. Press Enter twice. You should see the HTML response from the server.

Alternatively, you can enter the request interactively using <<EOF:

telnet 127.0.0.1 8080 <<EOF
GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: 127.0.0.1

EOF

Using a Request File

  1. Create the request file request.txt:

    echo -e "GET / HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: 127.0.0.1\r\n\r\n" > request.txt

  2. Send the request using nc:

    nc 127.0.0.1 8080 < request.txt

Resources

For more information on building an HTTP server from scratch, you can refer to these articles:

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. See the LICENSE file for details.

By following this README, you should be able to build, run, and test your C++ web server. The server is flexible enough to serve files from a specified base path, making it suitable for various development and deployment scenarios.