LITH - Light HTTP Server

LITH is a minimalist, high-performance, multi-threaded HTTP server implemented in standard C11. Engineered to be exceptionally lightweight, modular, and portable, it provides native support for Windows (via w64devkit/MinGW-w64 and Winsock2), macOS, and Linux systems. It is designed with robust network lifecycle management, native multi-threading, and zero external software dependencies.

Key Features

• Multi-threaded Architecture: Utilizes POSIX threads (pthreads) to handle multiple simultaneous client connections efficiently, preventing the core network listener from blocking.
• HTTP Keep-Alive (v1.0.6 Persistent Connections): Features an intelligent network loop that keeps client sockets active for consecutive resource transfers. Includes case-insensitive header parsing and automated connection recycling to maximize performance and minimize TCP handshake overhead.
• Advanced I/O Engine (POST Payload Streaming): Features automated network stream processing to fully parse incoming HTTP POST requests, including chunked or fragmented payloads using precise Content-Length validation and multi-stage buffer safety checks.
• Modular Directory Architecture: Separates the core networking engine, HTTP state parsing, and application routing from configuration management and utility modules.
• External Configuration Engine: Dynamically loads runtime settings from a lith.conf configuration file without requiring recompilation.
• Dynamic MIME Type Resolution: Automatically maps file extensions to their corresponding IANA media types (.html, .css, .js, .json, .png, etc.) for proper browser rendering.
• Unified Security & Path Filters: Protects against directory traversal attacks by detecting and rejecting malicious relative path patterns such as ...
• Graceful Port Guard: Detects socket binding conflicts during startup and exits gracefully with informative logs.
• Unified Error Canvas Layouts: Serves clean, dark-themed HTML error pages for common HTTP status codes (400, 403, 404, 408, and 500).
• Zero Dependencies: Built exclusively on standard operating system APIs, ensuring an ultra-minimal binary footprint.

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Quick Start

1. Build Compilation

LITH ships with a highly robust, cross-platform Makefile optimized for GNU Make. It automatically handles header dependency generation (-MMD -MP) and natively adapts to both Linux/macOS shells and Windows environments (like w64devkit).

To compile the project from scratch:

make clean
make

2. Configuration (lith.conf)

LITH loads its runtime configuration from a file named lith.conf located in the application's root directory.

# Network listening port
PORT=8090

# Directory containing static web assets
PUBLIC_DIR=public

3. Deployment

Place your web assets inside the configured public/ directory.

Start the server:

bin/lith

Optionally, override the configured port at runtime:

bin/lith 8005

Open your browser and navigate to:

http://localhost:8005

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Repository Architecture

.
├── bin/                 # Output directory for compiled executable binaries
├── include/             # Header files, macros, and cross-platform abstractions
│   ├── http_parser.h    # HTTP Request structures, MIME mapping, and error pages
│   ├── http_router.h    # Application routing and static file rendering logic
│   ├── logger.h         # Centralized thread-safe logging interface
│   └── server.h         # Main socket listener and configuration structures
├── public/              # Static web root (HTML, CSS, JS, Assets)
├── src/
│   ├── server/          # Configuration parser and server utility modules
│   │   ├── config.c     # Runtime initialization logic (lith.conf reader)
│   │   └── utils.c      # Multiplatform OS abstractions and file system safety
│   ├── http_parser.c    # Case-insensitive protocol parser
│   ├── http_router.c    # Request handler, route dispatcher, and security validation
│   ├── logger.c         # Formatted terminal output subsystem
│   ├── main.c           # Application bootstrap and runtime arguments handler
│   ├── server.c         # TCP socket initialization (bind, listen, accept)
│   └── server_worker.c  # Persistent worker threads loop (Keep-Alive implementation)
├── lith.conf            # Runtime configuration file
└── Makefile             # Universal, silent multi-platform automated build script

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Technical Specifications

Parameter	Default Value	Description
LITH_VERSION	1.0.6	Current stable release version
BUFFER_SIZE	4096 bytes	Standard socket read/write block buffer size
Maximum Buffer	16 KB	Maximum cumulative buffer space for HTTP headers and POST bodies
BACKLOG	10	Maximum number of pending client connections in the listen queue
Keep-Alive Timeout	3 seconds	SO_RCVTIMEO window before cleanly recycling a persistent socket
MAX_KEEP_ALIVE_REQUESTS	100	Maximum requests processed per single client TCP session

License

This software is distributed under the terms of the FomaDev Public License (FPL). Under this license, personal and educational use of compiled binaries is free, including within corporate environments. Commercial republication, direct source-code integration into competitive proprietary tools, or maintaining standalone independent forks is strictly restricted without explicit commercial authorization. For complete licensing terms, consult the accompanying LICENSE file.