Althttpd
This is a tutorial for Althttpd - an HTTP server made by the SQLite crew.
Build
First, download althttpd.c.
Then, create a file named “VERSION.h”:
#define COMPILER "cc"
#define MANIFEST_DATE "2025-07-03"
#define MANIFEST_ISODATE "2025-07-03"
#define MANIFEST_UUID "1"
#define RELEASE_VERSION "2"
Finally, compile the server:
cc \
-DENABLE_TLS \
-I/usr/local/include \
-L/usr/local/lib \
-Os \
-Wall \
-Wextra \
-fPIC \
-lcrypto \
-lssl \
-o althttpd althttpd.c
Static Files
Serving static files is as simple as invoking Althttpd with a root directory and a port number:
althttpd -root . -port 8080
Dynamic Files
Serving dynamic files is done using good ol’ CGI scripts. Here is how to show the current time:
#!/usr/bin/env perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use Time::Piece;
my $time = localtime;
print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
print '<html><body><h1>', $time->hms, '</h1></body></html>'
These are the available CGI variables:
CONTENT\_LENGTH,
AUTH\_TYPE,
AUTH\_CONTENT,
CONTENT\_TYPE,
DOCUMENT\_ROOT,
HTTP\_ACCEPT,
HTTP\_ACCEPT\_ENCODING,
HTTP\_COOKIE,
HTTP\_HOST,
HTTP\_IF\_MODIFIED\_SINCE,
HTTP\_IF\_NONE\_MATCH,
HTTP\_REFERER,
HTTP\_SCHEME,
HTTP\_USER\_AGENT,
HTTPS,
PATH,
PATH\_INFO,
QUERY\_STRING,
REMOTE\_ADDR,
REQUEST\_METHOD,
REQUEST\_URI,
REMOTE\_USER,
SCGI,
SCRIPT\_DIRECTORY,
SCRIPT\_FILENAME,
SCRIPT\_NAME,
SERVER\_NAME,
SERVER\_PORT,
SERVER\_PROTOCOL,
SERVER\_SOFTWARE.
Logging
Logging can be enabled with -logfile, e.g.:
althttpd -root . -port 8080 -logfile althttpd-%Y%m%d.csv
This will create a new logfile for each day.
Virtual Hosts
Hosting multiple websites on a single server is done by creating multiple directories ending with “.website”.
E.g. this will host “a.example.com” and “b.example.com”:
mkdir a_example_com.website b_example_com.website
althttpd -root . -port 8080
Basic Authentication
Directories can be protected with a password by placing a -auth file in them:
realm Private Directory
# redirect to HTTPS
http-redirect
# prohibit HTTP
https-only
# set $REMOTE_USER
user Richard drh:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
However, this will only protect the directory itself, not it’s subdirectories!
HTTPS
This is enabled with -cert cert.pem and -pkey pkey.pem.
Content Compression
Althttpd can do content compression, but I haven’t used it yet.
IP Blocking
Malicious requests can be blocked with -ipshun or 418 in CGI scripts,
but I haven’t used this either.
More Information
- Official documentation: https://sqlite.org/althttpd/doc/trunk/althttpd.md
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