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Mongoose Usage Guide
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. The easiest way
to share a folder on Windows is to copy mongoose.exe to a folder,
double-click the exe, and launch a browser at
http://localhost:8080. Note that 'localhost' should
be changed to a machine's name if a folder is accessed from other computer.
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 can be absent.
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:
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. Configuration options section below provide a good
overview of Mongoose features.
Note that configuration options on the command line must start with -,
but their names are the same as in the config file. All option names are
listed in the next section. Thus, the following two setups are equivalent:
# Using command line arguments
$ mongoose -listening_ports 1234 -document_root /var/www
# Using config file
$ cat mongoose.conf
listening_ports 1234
document_root /var/www
$ mongoose
Mongoose can also be used to modify .htpasswd passwords file:
mongoose -A <htpasswd_file> <realm> <user> <passwd>
Unlike other web servers, mongoose does not require CGI scripts be located in a special directory. CGI scripts can be anywhere. CGI (and SSI) files are recognized by the file name pattern. Mongoose uses shell-like glob patterns. Pattern match starts at the beginning of the string, so essentially patterns are prefix patterns. Syntax is as follows:
** Matches everything
* Matches everything but slash character, '/'
? Matches any character
$ Matches the end of the string
| Matches if pattern on the left side or the right side matches.
All other characters in the pattern match themselves. Examples:
**.cgi$ Any string that ends with .cgi
/foo Any string that begins with /foo
**a$|**b$ Any string that ends with a or b