HTTP File Server

Last updated
Rejetto HTTP File Server
Developer(s) Massimo Melina (aka rejetto)
Stable release
2.3m [1] / 16 August 2018;5 years ago (16 August 2018)
Repository
Operating system Windows 2000/XP
Known to be working on Windows 95/98/ME/Vista/7/10/11 and officially on Wine [2]
Type File server / Web server
License GNU GPL
Website rejetto.com/hfs/   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

HTTP File Server, otherwise known as HFS, is a free web server specifically designed for publishing and sharing files. The complete feature set differs from other web servers; it lacks some common features, like CGI, or even ability to run as a Windows service, but includes, for example, counting file downloads. [3]

Contents

Features

HFS is a small HTTP file server, aimed at mostly sharing files for download.
The official documentation describes HFS as:

HFS (HTTP File Server) is file sharing software which allows you to send and receive files. You can limit this sharing to just a few friends, or be open to the whole world.

HFS is different from classic file sharing because there is no network. HFS is a web server which uses web technology to be more compatible with today's Internet.

Since it is actually a web server, your friends can download files as if they were downloading from a website using a web browser, such as Internet Explorer or Firefox. Your users don't have to install any new software.

HFS lets you share your files. Most web servers are used to publish a website, but HFS is not designed to do that. You are, however, free to use it in any way you wish, - but at your own risk.

As of the latest beta version 2.3, HFS includes its own proprietary scripting language known as "macros", which can be used to expand functionality of the program. Scripts can be used in a variety of methods including event handlers and directly on web pages. Macros can even be written to bypass the program's account system with a custom one. [4] HFS can be used as a typical web-server, however it is not easy to support and requires a variety of unconventional programming methods (version 2.3 only), due to its lack of support for PHP or CGI.

History

Development started in August 2002, and reached version 1.0 in September of the same year.

Security

HFS has had multiple security issues in the past, [5] but states on its website that as of 2013 "There are no current known security bugs in the latest version. HFS is open source, so anyone is able to easily check for security flaws (and we have many expert users). Although it was not designed to be extremely robust, HFS is very stable and has been used for months without a restart". [6]

It can be used with Stunnel to provide https (SSL/TLS). [6]

See also

Footnotes

  1. "HFS ~ HTTP File Server" . Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  2. "AppsThatSupportWine - the Official Wine Wiki". Archived from the original on 2011-06-03. Retrieved 2011-04-21.
  3. What is it?, an article from the official documentation.
  4. FHFS
  5. "HFS HTTP File Server Multiple Security Vulnerabilities". Archived from the original on 2012-04-11. Retrieved 2011-12-19.
  6. 1 2 Project wiki page: "Secure your server"

Related Research Articles

In computing, Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is an interface specification that enables web servers to execute an external program to process HTTP or HTTPS user requests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Konqueror</span> Web browser and file manager

Konqueror is a free and open-source web browser and file manager that provides web access and file-viewer functionality for file systems. It forms a core part of the KDE Software Compilation. Developed by volunteers, Konqueror can run on most Unix-like operating systems. The KDE community licenses and distributes Konqueror under GNU GPL-2.0-or-later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PHP</span> Scripting language created in 1994

PHP is a general-purpose scripting language geared towards web development. It was originally created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 and released in 1995. The PHP reference implementation is now produced by the PHP Group. PHP was originally an abbreviation of Personal Home Page, but it now stands for the recursive initialism PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microsoft FrontPage</span> Website editing and administration tool

Microsoft FrontPage is a discontinued WYSIWYG HTML editor and website administration tool from Microsoft for the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems. It was branded as part of the Microsoft Office suite from 1997 to 2003. Microsoft FrontPage has since been replaced by Microsoft Expression Web and SharePoint Designer, which were first released in December 2006 alongside Microsoft Office 2007, but these two products were also discontinued in favor of a web-based version of SharePoint Designer, as those three HTML editors were desktop applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squid (software)</span> Caching and forwarding HTTP web proxy

Squid is a caching and forwarding HTTP web proxy. It has a wide variety of uses, including speeding up a web server by caching repeated requests, caching World Wide Web (WWW), Domain Name System (DNS), and other network lookups for a group of people sharing network resources, and aiding security by filtering traffic. Although used for mainly HTTP and File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Squid includes limited support for several other protocols including Internet Gopher, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), Transport Layer Security (TLS), and Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). Squid does not support the SOCKS protocol, unlike Privoxy, with which Squid can be used in order to provide SOCKS support.

mod_perl is an optional module for the Apache HTTP server. It embeds a Perl interpreter into the Apache server. In addition to allowing Apache modules to be written in the Perl programming language, it allows the Apache web server to be dynamically configured by Perl programs. However, its most common use is so that dynamic content produced by Perl scripts can be served in response to incoming requests, without the significant overhead of re-launching the Perl interpreter for each request.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows Script Host</span> Automation technology for Windows

The Microsoft Windows Script Host (WSH) is an automation technology for Microsoft Windows operating systems that provides scripting abilities comparable to batch files, but with a wider range of supported features. This tool was first provided on Windows 95 after Build 950a on the installation discs as an optional installation configurable and installable by means of the Control Panel, and then a standard component of Windows 98 and subsequent and Windows NT 4.0 Build 1381 and by means of Service Pack 4. The WSH is also a means of automation for Internet Explorer via the installed WSH engines from IE Version 3.0 onwards; at this time VBScript became means of automation for Microsoft Outlook 97. The WSH is also an optional install provided with a VBScript and JScript engine for Windows CE 3.0 and following and some third-party engines including Rexx and other forms of Basic are also available.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FileZilla</span> Free software, cross-platform file transfer protocol application

FileZilla is a free and open-source, cross-platform FTP application, consisting of FileZilla Client and FileZilla Server. Clients are available for Windows, Linux, and macOS. Both server and client support FTP and FTPS, while the client can in addition connect to SFTP servers. FileZilla's source code is hosted on SourceForge.

lighttpd

lighttpd is an open-source web server optimized for speed-critical environments while remaining standards-compliant, secure and flexible. It was originally written by Jan Kneschke as a proof-of-concept of the c10k problem – how to handle 10,000 connections in parallel on one server, but has gained worldwide popularity. Its name is a portmanteau of "light" and "httpd".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dynamic web page</span> Type of web page

A dynamic web page is a web page constructed at runtime, as opposed to a static web page, delivered as it is stored. A server-side dynamic web page is a web page whose construction is controlled by an application server processing server-side scripts. In server-side scripting, parameters determine how the assembly of every new web page proceeds, and including the setting up of more client-side processing. A client-side dynamic web page processes the web page using JavaScript running in the browser as it loads. JavaScript can interact with the page via Document Object Model (DOM), to query page state and modify it. Even though a web page can be dynamic on the client-side, it can still be hosted on a static hosting service such as GitHub Pages or Amazon S3 as long as there is not any server-side code included.

BitTorrent is a proprietary adware BitTorrent client developed by Bram Cohen and Rainberry, Inc. used for uploading and downloading files via the BitTorrent protocol. BitTorrent was the first client written for the protocol. It is often nicknamed Mainline by developers denoting its official origins. Since version 6.0 the BitTorrent client has been a rebranded version of μTorrent. As a result, it is no longer open source. It is currently available for Microsoft Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android. There are currently two versions of the software, "BitTorrent Classic" which inherits the historical version numbering, and "BitTorrent Web", which uses its own version numbering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catalyst (software)</span>

Catalyst is an open source web application framework written in Perl, that closely follows the model–view–controller (MVC) architecture, and supports a number of experimental web patterns. It is written using Moose, a modern object system for Perl. Its design is heavily inspired by frameworks such as Ruby on Rails, Maypole, and Spring.

Web server software allows computers to act as web servers. The first web servers supported only static files, such as HTML, but now they commonly allow embedding of server side applications.

A webform, web form or HTML form on a web page allows a user to enter data that is sent to a server for processing. Forms can resemble paper or database forms because web users fill out the forms using checkboxes, radio buttons, or text fields. For example, forms can be used to enter shipping or credit card data to order a product, or can be used to retrieve search results from a search engine.

iMacros Browser-based application for macro recording, editing and playback

iMacros is a browser-based application for macro recording, editing and playback for web automation and testing. It is provided as a standalone application and extension for Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer web browsers. Developed by iOpus/Ipswitch, It adds record and replay functionality similar to that found in web testing and form filler software. The macros can be combined and controlled via JavaScript. Demo macros and JavaScript code examples are included with the software. Running strictly JavaScript-based macros was removed in later versions of iMacros browser extensions. However, users can use alternative browser like Pale Moon, based on older versions of Mozilla Firefox to use JavaScript files for web-based automated testing with Moon Tester Tool.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SharePoint</span> Web application platform

SharePoint is a web-based collaborative platform that integrates natively with Microsoft 365. Launched in 2001, SharePoint is primarily sold as a document management and storage system, although it is also used for sharing information through an intranet, implementing internal applications, and for implementing business processes.

ZK is an open-source Ajax Web application framework, written in Java, that enables creation of graphical user interfaces for Web applications with little required programming knowledge.

FHFS is a FTP and HTTP Web Server package, transparently based on HFS and FileZilla. FHFS is built to act as an all-in-one user-based file hosting website, good for schools, businesses, etc. whose students/employees need to easily transport files. FHFS is designed specifically for account-based storage, not easily compatible with other uses or using over-top of an original HFS setup. Early development was started in January 2011, beta builds were tested in October 2011, version 1.0 was released on 11/3/2011. FHFS was started to accelerate development on FileSplat.com, as well as showcase the capabilities of HFS macros. FHFS 2.0 was released on 10/28/2012, exactly one year after the first beta of 1.0. FHFS was loosely based on source code from www.filesplat.com at the time, and was created by the same developer. Filesplat no longer uses FHFS. FHFS is written in several different languages, including: HFS Macros, XML, XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, DOS, PHP, and C#. FHFS is recognized by the developer of HFS. FHFS 2.0.5 contains roughly 9500 somewhat-compressed lines or 412,000 characters of original code.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Perl programming language: