tiny

🌀 Tiny Web server

Dave O'Hallaron (Carnegie Mellon University)

Introduction

This is the home directory for the Tiny server, a 200-line Web server that we use in "15-213: Intro to Computer Systems" at Carnegie Mellon University. Tiny uses the GET method to serve static content (text, HTML, GIF, and JPG files) out of ./ and to serve dynamic content by running CGI programs out of ./cgi-bin. The default page is home.html (rather than index.html) so that we can view the contents of the directory from a browser.

Tiny is neither secure nor complete, but it gives students an idea of how a real Web server works. Use for instructional purposes only.

The code compiles and runs cleanly using gcc 2.95.3 on a Linux 2.2.20 kernel.

Usage

1. Run tiny on a server

   # Run "tiny <port>" on the server machine 
   ./tiny 8000

2. Point your browser at Tiny

   • static content: http://<host>:8000
   • dynamic content: http://<host>:8000/cgi-bin/adder?1&2

Files

• tiny.c: The Tiny server
• Makefile: Makefile for tiny.c
• home.html: Test HTML page
• godzilla.gif: Image embedded in home.html
• cgi-bin/adder.c: CGI program that adds two numbers
• cgi-bin/Makefile: Makefile for adder.c