NOTE: THIS MANUAL IS WORK IN PROGRESS
Mongoose is small and easy to use web server. It is self-contained, and does not require any external software to run.
On Windows, mongoose iconifies itself to the system tray icon when started. Right-click on the icon pops up a menu, where it is possible to stop mongoose, or configure it, or install it as Windows service.
On UNIX and Mac, mongoose is a command line utility. Running mongoose in terminal, optionally followed by configuration parameters (mongoose [OPTIONS]) or configuration file name (mongoose [config_file_name]) starts the web server. Mongoose does not detach from terminal. Pressing Ctrl-C keys would stop the server.
When started, mongoose first searches for the configuration file. If configuration file is specified explicitly in the command line, i.e. mongoose path_to_config_file, then specified configuration file is used. Otherwise, mongoose would search for file mongoose.conf in the same directory where binary is located, and use it. Configuration file is a sequence of lines, each line containing command line argument name and it's value. Empty lines, and lines beginning with #, are ignored. Here is the example of mongoose.conf file:
# mongoose.conf file
document_root c:\www
listening_ports 8080,8043s
ssl_certificate c:\mongoose\ssl_cert.pem
When configuration file is processed, mongoose process command line arguments, if they are specified. Command line arguments therefore can override configuration file settings. Command line arguments must start with -. For example, if mongoose.conf has line document_root /var/www, and mongoose has been started as mongoose -document_root /etc, then /etc directory will be served as document root, because command line options take priority over configuration file.
Mongoose can also be used to modify .htpasswd passwords file:
mongoose -A <htpasswd_file> <realm> <user> <passwd>
How to share a Windows folder: copy mongoose executable to a folder and double-click the executable. The folder should be accessible via htp://localhost:8080](http://localhost:8080) in any browser.
How to start mongoose at UNIX startup time in daemon mode, serving directory /var/www: put this line in the system startup script: /path/to/mongoose -listening_ports 80 -document_root /var/www &
How to serve user home directories using URL rewrite: mongoose -url_rewrite_patterns /~joe/=/home/joe/,/~bill=/home/bill/
-A htpasswd_file domain_name user_name password
Add/edit user's password in the passwords file. Deleting users
can be done with any text editor. Functionality is similar to
Apache's htdigest utility.
-C cgi_pattern
All files that fully match cgi_pattern are treated as CGI.
Default pattern allows CGI files be anywhere. To restrict CGIs to
certain directory, use e.g. "-C /cgi-bin/**.cgi". Default:
"**.cgi$|**.pl$|**.php$"
-E cgi_environment
Extra environment variables to be passed to the CGI script in
addition to standard ones. The list must be comma-separated list
of X=Y pairs, like this: "VARIABLE1=VALUE1,VARIABLE2=VALUE2".
Default: ""
-G put_delete_passwords_file
PUT and DELETE passwords file. This must be specified if PUT or
DELETE methods are used. Default: ""
-I cgi_interpreter
Use cgi_interpreter as a CGI interpreter for all CGI scripts
regardless script extension. Mongoose decides which interpreter
to use by looking at the first line of a CGI script. Default:
"".
-P protect_uri
Comma separated list of URI=PATH pairs, specifying that given
URIs must be protected with respected password files. Default: ""
-R authentication_domain
Authorization realm. Default: "mydomain.com"
-S ssi_pattern
All files that fully match ssi_pattern are treated as SSI.
Unknown SSI directives are silently ignored. Currently, two SSI
directives are supported, "include" and "exec". Default:
"**.shtml$|**.shtm$"
-T throttle
Limit download speed for clients. throttle is a comma-separated
list of key=value pairs, where key could be a '*' character
(limit for all connections), a subnet in form x.x.x.x/mask (limit
for a given subnet, for example 10.0.0.0/8), or an URI prefix
pattern (limit for the set of URIs, for example /foo/**). The
value is a floating-point number of bytes per second, optionally
followed by a `k' or `m' character, meaning kilobytes and
megabytes respectively. A limit of 0 means unlimited rate. The
last matching rule wins. For example, "*=1k,10.0.0.0/8" means
limit everybody to 1 kilobyte per second, but give people from
10/8 subnet unlimited speed. Default: ""
-a access_log_file
Access log file. Default: "", no logging is done.
-d enable_directory_listing
Enable/disable directory listing. Default: "yes"
-e error_log_file
Error log file. Default: "", no errors are logged.
-g global_passwords_file
Location of a global passwords file. If set, per-directory
.htpasswd files are ignored, and all requests must be authorised
against that file. Default: ""
-i index_files
Comma-separated list of files to be treated as directory index
files. Default: "index.html,index.htm,index.cgi"
-l access_control_list
Specify access control list (ACL). ACL is a comma separated list
of IP subnets, each subnet is prepended by '-' or '+' sign. Plus
means allow, minus means deny. If subnet mask is omitted, like
"-1.2.3.4", then it means single IP address. Mask may vary from 0
to 32 inclusive. On each request, full list is traversed, and
last match wins. Default setting is to allow all. For example, to
allow only 192.168/16 subnet to connect, run "mongoose
-0.0.0.0/0,+192.168/16". Default: ""
-m extra_mime_types
Extra mime types to recognize, in form "extension1=type1,exten-
sion2=type2,...". Extension must include dot. Example: "mongoose
-m .cpp=plain/text,.java=plain/text". Default: ""
-p listening_ports
Comma-separated list of ports to listen on. If the port is SSL, a
letter 's' must be appeneded, for example, "-p 80,443s" will open
port 80 and port 443, and connections on port 443 will be SSL-ed.
It is possible to specify an IP address to bind to. In this case,
an IP address and a colon must be prepended to the port number.
For example, to bind to a loopback interface on port 80 and to
all interfaces on HTTPS port 443, use "mongoose -p
127.0.0.1:80,443s". Default: "8080"
-r document_root
Location of the WWW root directory. Default: "."
-s ssl_certificate
Location of SSL certificate file. Default: ""
-t num_threads
Number of worker threads to start. Default: "10"
-u run_as_user
Switch to given user's credentials after startup. Default: ""
-w url_rewrite_patterns
Comma-separated list of URL rewrites in the form of "pattern=sub-
stitution,..." If the "pattern" matches some prefix of the
requested URL, then matched prefix gets substituted with "substi-
tution". For example, "-w /con-
fig=/etc,**.doc|**.rtf=/path/to/cgi-bin/handle_doc.cgi" will
serve all URLs that start with "/config" from the "/etc" direc-
tory, and call handle_doc.cgi script for .doc and .rtf file
requests. If some pattern matches, no further matching/substitu-
tion is performed (first matching pattern wins). Use full paths
in substitutions. Default: ""
-x hide_files_patterns
A prefix pattern for the files to hide. Files that match the pat-
tern will not show up in directory listing and return 404 Not
Found if requested. Default: ""
”
php-cgi.exe (php-cgi on UNIX). Solution: specify full path to the PHP interpreter, e.g. mongoose -cgi_interpreter /full/path/to/php-cgi
mg_start() function must be called. That starts the web server in a separate thread. When it is not needed anymore, mg_stop() must be called. Application code can pass configuration options to mg_start(), and also specify callback functions that Mongoose should call at certain events. hllo.c](http://a.c) provides a minimalistic example.