Why another Java HTTPD?

I couldn't find a small enough, embeddable and easily modifiable HTTP server that I could just copy and paste into my other Java projects. Every one of them consisted of dozens of .java files and/or jars, usually with - from my point of view - "overkill features" like servlet support, web administration, configuration files, logging etc.

So I made my own. Take it, hopefully you'll find it useful, too.

Features & limitations

• Only one Java file
• Java 1.1 compatible
• Released as open source, Modified BSD licence
• No fixed config files, logging, authorization etc. (Implement by yourself if you need them.)
• Supports parameter parsing of GET and POST methods
• Parameter names must be unique. (Adding support to multiple instance of a parameter is not difficult, but would make the interface a bit more cumbersome to use.)
• Supports both dynamic content and file serving
• Never caches anything
• Doesn't limit bandwidth, request time or simultaneous connections
• Default code serves files and shows all HTTP parameters and headers
• File server supports directory listing, index.html and index.htm
• File server does the 301 redirection trick for directories without /
• File server supports simple skipping for files (continue download)
• File server uses current directory as a web root
• File server serves also very long files without memory overhead
• Contains a built-in list of most common mime types
• All header names are converted lowercase so they don't vary between browsers/clients

Ways to use

• Run as a standalone app (serves files from current directory and shows requests)
• Subclass serve() and embed to your own program (see HelloServer.java for a simple example)
• Call serveFile() from serve() with your own base directory

Download

• Source code
  • NanoHTTPD.java
    • Syntax highlighted HTML version
  • Javadoc
• Linux binary: run gcj -o nanohttpd NanoHTTPD.java --main=NanoHTTPD
• Windows binary (a single .exe file) This is very outdated; compiled from version 1.0. Use at your own risk. (Unfortunately, I no longer have access to a Java->exe compiler so I can't make an upgraded version.)
• Documentation (this page in text format)

Changelog

• 1.13 (2010-06-27): fixed a wrong case in 'range' header
• 1.12 (2010-01-07): fixed a null ptr exception
• 1.11 (2008-04-21): fixed a double URI decoding (caused problems when there was a percent-coded percent)
• 1.10 (2007-02-09): improved browser compatibility by forcing headers lowercase; fixed a POST method over-read bug
• 1.05 (2006-03-30): honor Content-Length header; support for clients that leave TCP connection open; better MIME support for symlinked files
• 1.02 (2005-07-08): fixed a stream read starvation bug
• 1.01 (2003-04-03): first published version

Thank you to everyone who has reported bugs and suggested fixes.

Mp3HTTPD

As a usage example, if you listen to music over the Internet, try out Mp3HTTPD, a slightly modified version of NanoHTTPD that translates on the fly file references in .M3U playlist files to HTTP-URLs.