Added simple http server
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# httpserver
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A directory of files over plain HTTP, and nothing else. No accounts, no
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database, no JavaScript — nginx with `autoindex on` pointed at a scratch
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directory. Read-only: it is for handing files out, not taking them in.
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The point is **reach**, not features. This is the share that works from a
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Windows 98 machine, a games console browser, a printer's built-in fetcher, or
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`wget` on a router. [copyparty](../copyparty/) and [filebrowser](../filebrowser/)
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are nicer for humans on modern machines; neither will talk to a client from 1999.
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## Quick start
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```bash
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cp .env.example .env
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$EDITOR .env # TEMPDISK -- the parent of the Temp/ you want served
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mkdir -p "$TEMPDISK/Temp"
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docker compose up -d
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```
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Open `http://<host>:8083`.
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## Ports
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| Port | Proto | Purpose |
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|------|-------|---------|
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| 8083 | http | Directory listing and downloads |
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No HTTPS, deliberately. See below.
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## Why it looks like this
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**Plain HTTP is the feature, not an oversight.** Windows 98 cannot do TLS 1.2,
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SNI, or any cipher suite a modern server will negotiate. The moment this goes
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behind an HTTPS-terminating proxy it stops working for exactly the clients it
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exists for. Verified: an `HTTP/1.0` request with **no `Host:` header** — which
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is what ancient clients send — returns `200 OK`, because the single server block
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is the default server.
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**The generated listing is deliberately primitive.** nginx's `autoindex` emits
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`<html><head><title>` then `<h1>`, `<hr>`, `<pre>` and `<a href>`. No CSS, no
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JavaScript, not even a table. That renders in IE5, Netscape 4, Lynx, and
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everything since. Responses carry `Content-Length`, `Last-Modified` and
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`Accept-Ranges: bytes`, so resume works — which matters more on a flaky old
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machine than a modern one.
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**`include mime.types` is there despite the minimalism**, because it makes weak
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clients behave *better* and costs nothing. Mounting a config over
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`/etc/nginx/nginx.conf` replaces the whole file, including nginx's default
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`types` block, leaving only a tiny built-in table. Measured, before and after:
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| File | Without the include | With it |
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|------|--------------------|---------|
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| `photo.jpg` | `image/jpeg` | `image/jpeg` |
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| `page.html` | `text/html` | `text/html` |
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| `photo.png` | **`text/plain`** | `image/png` |
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| `archive.zip` | **`text/plain`** | `application/zip` |
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| `setup.exe` | **`text/plain`** | `application/octet-stream` |
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| `manual.pdf` | **`text/plain`** | `application/pdf` |
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| `song.mp3` | **`text/plain`** | `audio/mpeg` |
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Only html, gif and jpeg survive without it. A modern browser usually shrugs and
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downloads anyway; **IE5 on Windows 98 tries to *display* a `text/plain`
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response**, so a 700 MB zip becomes a screen of garbage instead of a Save
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dialog. The directive is parsed once at startup — no per-request cost, and the
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file already ships in the image.
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**No upload path.** nginx can accept WebDAV `PUT`, and an earlier version of
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this config did — but `autoindex` has no upload form, so a browser can never use
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it. Writes would only work from a DAV client: `curl -T`, or Windows Explorer's
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*Map network drive*. A real upload button needs a CGI or an app behind nginx,
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which is the complexity this stack exists to avoid. Use
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[copyparty](../copyparty/) or [filebrowser](../filebrowser/) when you need
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people to send files *to* you.
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**The config lives in `init/`** because this repo's `.gitignore` ignores
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everything inside a service directory except a short list, and `init/**` is on
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it. A config in any other subdirectory is silently *not committed*, and then the
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bind mount has nothing to mount — Docker creates a **directory** at that path and
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nginx won't start. Same failure mode as
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[overleaf's init script](../overleaf/README.md#running-it-on-openmediavault).
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## Gotchas
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- **`PUID` and `PGID` do nothing.** This is the official nginx image, not
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LinuxServer; there is no PUID/PGID handling anywhere in its entrypoint. They
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are accepted and read by nobody — the same trap documented in
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[audiobookshelf](../audiobookshelf/README.md). `TZ` affects log timestamps at
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most. It costs nothing here because the share is read-only: the workers run as
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uid 101 and only ever need read access.
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- **`${TEMPDISK}` has no default.** Unset, Compose interpolates an empty string
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and nginx serves `/Temp` from the host root rather than failing. The repo's
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`${VAR:?message}` pattern exists for exactly this.
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- **Keep filenames ASCII for old clients.** `autoindex` emits filenames as raw
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bytes; Windows 98 is CP1252, so accented names mangle.
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- **`:latest` is unpinned.** If server weight matters, `nginx:alpine-slim` is
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**8 MB** compressed against **63 MB** for `nginx:latest`, with identical
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behaviour for static serving.
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- **Anyone who reaches the port sees everything.** `autoindex` publishes a
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browsable listing of the whole share with no authentication. Nothing is
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writable, so the risk is disclosure rather than tampering — but it is the
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whole directory, and that is the intended trade for a temporary share on a
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trusted network.
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## Exposing it
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**Think twice.** If you put this behind a proxy for remote access, you lose the
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old clients that justify it existing.
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- [Reverse proxy with Caddy](../docs/reverse-proxy.md) — fine for modern
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clients; it will terminate TLS and break Windows 98.
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- [Authentik forward auth](../docs/authentik-sso.md#forward-auth--putting-an-app-with-no-sso-behind-authentik)
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— the way to make it safe remotely, but it needs a browser that can complete
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the login, which rules out the same ancient clients.
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Running two hostnames — one bare HTTP on the LAN, one proxied for outside — is
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the honest way to have both.
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## Links
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- nginx `autoindex`: <https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_autoindex_module.html>
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- Image: <https://hub.docker.com/_/nginx>
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