Configuration File Options¶

Here you will find a list of all available configuration options for lighttpd. They are grouped by module, and a link to each module configuration will provide with more detail information about each option, as well as examples, and other guidelines.

Modules written by Lighttpd Users

• Table of contents
• Configuration File Options
  • Lighttpd Core Options
    • SSL Options
    • Core Debug Info
  • mod_access
  • mod_accesslog
  • mod_alias
  • mod_auth
  • mod_cache
  • mod_cgi
  • mod_cml
  • mod_compress
  • mod_deflate
  • mod_dirlisting
  • mod_evasive
  • mod_evhost
  • mod_expire
  • mod_extforward
  • mod_fastcgi
  • mod_flv_streaming
  • mod_mem_cache
  • mod_mysql_vhost
  • mod_proxy
  • mod_proxy_core
  • mod_redirect
  • mod_rewrite
  • mod_rrdtool
  • mod_scgi
  • mod_secure_download
  • mod_setenv
  • mod_simple_vhost
  • mod_ssi
  • mod_status
  • mod_trigger_b4_dl
  • mod_userdir
  • mod_uploadprogress
  • mod_usertrack
  • mod_webdav

Lighttpd Core Options¶

• connection.kbytes-per-second: limit the throughput for each single connection to the given limit in kbyte/s. Details
• etag.use-inode: Determines if inode-value is used in ETag generation Details
• etag.use-mtime: Determines if mtime-value is used in ETag generation Details
• etag.use-size: Determines if size-value is used in ETag generation Details
• index-file.names: list of files to search for if a directory is requested. Details
• mimetype.assign: list of known mimetype mappings. Details
• mimetype.use-xattr: try to use XFS-style extended attribute interface for retreiving the Content-Type. Details
• server.bind: IP address, hostname or absolute path to the unix-domain socket. Details
• server.chroot: root-directory of the server. Details
• server.core-files: enable core files. Details
• server.dir-listing: enable/disable dir listing. Details
• server.document-root: document-root of the webserver. Details
• server.error-handler-404: uri to call if the requested file results in a 404. Details
• server.errorfile-prefix: path prefix for special status codes pages. Details
• server.errorlog: pathname of the error-log. Details
• server.errorlog-use-syslog: send errorlog to syslog. Details
• server.event-handler: set the event handler. Details
• server.follow-symlink: allow to follow-symlinks. Details
• server.force-lowercase-filenames: enable force all filenames to lowercase.
• server.groupname: groupname used to run the server. Details
• server.kbytes-per-second: limit the throughput for all connections to the given limit in kbyte/s. Details
• server.max-connections: maximum connections. Details
• server.max-fds: maximum number of file descriptors. Details
• server.max-keep-alive-idle: maximum number of seconds until a idling keep-alive connection is droped. Details
• server.max-keep-alive-requests: maximum number of request within a keep-alive session. Details
• server.max-read-idle: maximum number of seconds until a waiting, non keep-alive read times out and closes the connection. Details
• server.max-request-size: maximum size in kbytes of the request. Details
• server.max-worker: number of worker processes to spawn. Details
• server.max-write-idle: maximum number of seconds until a waiting write call times out. Details
• server.modules: modules to load. Details
• server.name: name of the server/virtual server. Details
• server.network-backend: basic network interface for all platforms at the syscalls read() and write() Details
• server.pid-file: set the name and location of the .pid-file. Details
• server.port: tcp-port to bind the server to.Details
• server.protocol-http11: defines if HTTP/1.1 is allowed or not. Details
• server.range-requests: defines if range requests are allowed or not. Details
• server.stat-cache-engine: select stat() call caching. Details
• server.tag: set the string returned by the server. Details
• server.upload-dirs: path to upload directory. Details
• server.use-ipv6: bind to the IPv6 socket.
• server.username: username used to run the server. Details
• static-file.etags: Determines if ETags are generated or not
• static-file.exclude-extensions: forbid access to the source of some types of files by extension.

SSL Options¶

• ssl.engine: enable/disable ssl engine.
• ssl.pemfile: path to the PEM file for SSL support. Details
• ssl.ca-file: path to the CA file for support of chained certificates. Details

Core Debug Info¶

• debug.log-request-header: log all request headers.
• debug.log-file-not-found: log if a file wasn't found.
• debug.log-condition-handling: log conditionals handling for debugging.
• debug.log-request-header-on-error: log request header, but only when there is an error.
• debug.log-request-handling: log request handling inside lighttpd.
• debug.log-state-handling: log state handling inside lighttpd.
• debug.log-response-header: log the header we send out to the client.
  Debug Variable Information

mod_access¶

Access restrictions module - Options:

• url.access-deny: Denies access to all files with any of given trailing path names.
  mod_access documentation

mod_accesslog¶

Access log files module - Options:

• accesslog.use-syslog: send the accesslog to syslog.
• accesslog.format: the format of the logfile.
• accesslog.filename: name of the file where the accesslog should be written to if syslog is not used.
  mod_accesslog documentation

mod_alias¶

Directory aliases module - Options:

• alias.url: rewrites the document-root for a URL-subset.
  mod_alias documentation

mod_auth¶

Authentication module - Options:

• auth.debug: enable/disable authentication module debug information.
• auth.backend: type of authentication backend.
• auth.require:
• auth.backend.ldap.hostname: hostname of ldap server.
• auth.backend.ldap.starttls:
• auth.backend.ldap.filter:
• auth.backend.ldap.bind-pw:
• auth.backend.ldap.ca-file:
• auth.backend.ldap.base-dn:
• auth.backend.ldap.bind-dn:
• auth.backend.plain.userfile: path to plain userfile.
• auth.backend.plain.groupfile: path to plain groupfile.
• auth.backend.htdigest.userfile: path to htdigest userfile.
• auth.backend.htpasswd.userfile: path to htpassword userfile.
  mod_auth documentation

mod_cache¶

Web accelerating module - Options:

• cache.bases: directory arrays which want to save cache files
• cache.enable:
• cache.domains: domain pcre regex arrays which mod_cache will cache
• cache.support-queries:
• cache.debug: writes mod_cache debuging messages to error.log or not
• cache.purge-host: pcre regex hosts ip which are allowed to PURGE cache file
• cache.refresh-pattern:
  mod_cache documentation

mod_cgi¶

Cgi module - Options:

• cgi.assign: assign cgi handler to an extension.
  mod_cgi documentation

mod_cml¶

Cache Meta Language module - Options:

• cml.memcache-namespace: (not used yet)
• cml.power-magnet: a cml file that is executed for each request.
• cml.memcache-hosts: hosts for the memcache.* functions.
• cml.extension: the file extension that is bound to the cml-module.
  mod_cml documentation

mod_compress¶

Compress output module - Options:

• compress.max-filesize: maximum size of the original file to be compressed kBytes.
• compress.cache-dir: name of the directory where compressed content will be cached.
• compress.filetype: mimetypes which might get compressed.
  mod_compress documentation

mod_deflate¶

Dynamic compression module (Patch) - Options:

• deflate.enabled: enable/disable deflate support.
• deflate.compression-level: level of compression.
• deflate.mem-level:
• deflate.window-size:
• deflate.bzip2: enable/disable bzip support. (only in patch for 1.4.x)
• deflate.allowed_encodings: (only in 1.5.x)
• deflate.min-compress-size: minimum size document before compressing.
• deflate.sync-flush: enable sync flush.
• deflate.output-buffer-size: size of buffer for compression.
• deflate.work-block-size: minimum block size for compression.
• deflate.mimetypes: mimetype listing to be compressed.
• deflate.debug: enable debug.
  mod_deflate documentation

mod_dirlisting¶

Directory listing module - Options:

• server.dir-listing: enable/disable directory listing.
• dir-listing.activate: enables virtual directory listings if a directory is requested no index-file was found.
• dir-listing.external-css: path to an external css stylesheet for the directory listing.
• dir-listing.encoding: set a encoding for the generated directory listing.
• dir-listing.hide-dotfiles: if enabled, does not list hidden files in directory listings generated by the dir-listing option.
• dir-listing.show-header: include HEADER.txt files above the directory listing..
• dir-listing.hide-header-file: enables hide header file from directory listing.
• dir-listing.show-readme: include README.txt files above the directory listing.
• dir-listing.hide-readme-file: enables displaying readme file in directory listing.
• dir-listing.exclude: files that match any of the specified regular expressions will be excluded from listings.
• dir-listing.set-footer: displays a string in the footer of a listing page.
  mod_dirlisting documentation

mod_evasive¶

Evasive module (version 1.5.0) - Options:

• evasive.max-conns-per-ip: upper limit of number of connections per ip allowed.

mod_evhost¶

Enhanced virtual host module - Options:

• evhost.path-pattern: pattern with wildcards to be replace to build a documentroot.
  mod_evhost documentation

mod_expire¶

Cached expiration module - Options:

• expire.url: assignes a expiration to all files below the specified path.
  mod_expire documentation

mod_extforward¶

Extract the client's "real" IP from X-Forwarded-For header - Options:

• extforward.forwarder: set trust level of proxy ip's
  mod_extforward documentation

mod_fastcgi¶

Fastcgi module - Options:

• fastcgi.map-extensions: map multiple extensions to the same fastcgi server.
• fastcgi.debug: a value between 0 and 65535 to set the debug-level in the FastCGI module.
• fastcgi.server: tell the module where to send FastCGI requests to.
  • host: is hostname/ip of the FastCGI process.
  • port: is tcp-port on the "host" used by the FastCGI process.
  • socket: path to the unix-domain socket.
  • bin-path: path to the local FastCGI binary which should be started if no local FastCGI is running.
  • bin-environment: set environment of FastCGI binary.
  • bin-copy-environment: copy environment from server for FastCGI binary.
  • mode: is the FastCGI protocol mode. Default is "responder", also "authorizer" mode is implemented.
  • docroot: docroot on the remote host.
  • allow-x-send-file: controls if X-LIGHTTPD-send-file and X-Sendfile headers are allowed.
  • broken-scriptfilename: breaks SCRIPT_FILENAME in a way that PHP can extract PATH_INFO from it.
  • idle-timeout: number of seconds before a unused process gets terminated.
  • max-procs: upper limit of processes to start.
  • min-procs: sets the minimum processes to start.
  • min-procs-not-working:
  • max-load-per-proc: maximum number of waiting processes on average per process before a new process is spawned.
  • check-local: enable/disable check for requested file in document root.
  • disable-time: time to wait before a disabled backend is checked again.
  • strip-request-uri: strip part of request-uri.
    mod_fastcgi documentation

mod_flv_streaming¶

flv streaming module - Options:

• flv-streaming.extensions: extensions of flv files
  Blog Entry
  Additional Information
  Flash Video Player 3.5

mod_mem_cache¶

Local file accelerating - Options:

• mem-cache.filetypes: content-type arrays which want to put into memory
• mem-cache.enable:
• mem-cache.max-memory: maxium memory in Mbytes mod-mem-cache can use
• mem-cache.max-file-size: maxium file size in Kbytes of single file to cache in memory
• mem-cache.lru-remove-count:
• mem-cache.expire-time: memory cache's expire time in minutes
• mem-cache.slru-thresold : slru threshold (against hit counter)
  mod_mem_cache documentation

mod_mysql_vhost¶

Mysql virtual hosting module - Options:

• mysql-vhost.hostname: hostname of mysql server.
• mysql-vhost.db: database name.
• mysql-vhost.user: username to access database.
• mysql-vhost.pass: password to access database.
• mysql-vhost.sql: SQL statement to execute to obtain docroot.
• mysql-vhost.port: port where to connect to database.
• mysql-vhost.sock: socket where to connect to database.
  mod_mysql_vhost documentation

mod_proxy¶

Proxy module - Options:

• proxy.server: where to send Proxy requests.
  • host: ip of host to send requests.
  • port: listening port of host.
• proxy.balance: select type of balancing algorithm (round-robin, hash, fair).
• proxy.debug: enable/disable proxy debug information.
  mod_proxy documentation

mod_proxy_core¶

Proxy module for 1.5.x - Options:

• proxy-core.balancer
• proxy-core.protocol
• proxy-core.backends
• proxy-core.max-pool-size
• proxy-core.allow-x-sendfile
• proxy-core.allow-x-rewrite
• proxy-core.rewrite-request
• proxy-core.rewrite-response
• proxy-core.max-keep-alive-requests
• proxy-core.split-hostnames
  mod_proxy_core documentation

mod_redirect¶

Redirect module - Options:

• url.redirect: redirects a set of URLs externally.
  mod_redirect documentation

mod_rewrite¶

Rewriting module - Options:

• url.rewrite-once: rewrites a set of URLs internally and skip the rest.
• url.rewrite-repeat: rewrites a set of URLs internally in the webserver, continue applying rewrite rules.
• url.rewrite: same as url.rewrite-once.
• url.rewrite-final: same as url.rewrite-once.
  mod_rewrite documentation

mod_rrdtool¶

rrdtool module - Options:

• rrdtool.db-name: filename of the rrd-database.
• rrdtool.binary: path to the rrdtool binary.
  mod_rrdtool documentation

mod_scgi¶

SCGI Module - Options:

• scgi.map-extensions: map multiple extensions to the same scgi server.
• scgi.debug: a value between 0 and 65535 to set the debug-level in the SCGI module.
• scgi.server: tell the module where to send SCGI requests to.
  • host: is hostname/ip of the SCGI process.
  • port: is tcp-port on the "host" used by the SCGI process.
  • socket: path to the unix-domain socket.
  • bin-path: path to the local SCGI binary which should be started if no local SCGI is running.
  • bin-environment: set environment of SCGI binary.
  • bin-copy-environment: copy environment from server for SCGI binary.
  • docroot: docroot on the remote host.
  • allow-x-send-file: controls if X-LIGHTTPD-send-file and X-Sendfile headers are allowed.
  • broken-scriptfilename: breaks SCRIPT_FILENAME in a way that PHP can extract PATH_INFO from it.
  • idle-timeout: number of seconds before a unused process gets terminated.
  • max-procs: upper limit of processes to start.
  • min-procs: sets the minium processes to start.
  • min-procs-not-working:
  • max-load-per-proc: maximum number of waiting processes on average per process before a new process is spawned.
  • check-local: enable/disable check for requested file in document root.
  • disable-time: time to wait before a disabled backend is checked again.
  • strip-request-uri: strip part of request-uri.
    mod_scgi documentation

mod_secure_download¶

Secure and fast download module - Options:

• secdownload.document-root: path to the download area.
• secdownload.timeout: how long in seconds is the secret valid.
• secdownload.uri-prefix: prefix to url for download.
• secdownload.secret: Secret string that will be used for the checksum calculation.
  mod_secure_download documentation

mod_setenv¶

Set HTTP Environment module - Options:

• setenv.add-response-header: adds a header to the HTTP response sent to the client.
• setenv.add-request-header: adds a header to the HTTP request that was received from the client.
• setenv.add-environment: adds a value to the process environment that is passed to the external applications.
  mod_setenv documentation

mod_simple_vhost¶

Simple virtual host module - Options:

• simple-vhost.document-root: path below the vhost directory.
• simple-vhost.server-root: root of the virtual host.
• simple-vhost.default-host: use this hostname if the requested hostname does not have its own directory.
• simple-vhost.debug: debug simple vhosts module.
  mod_simple_vhost documentation

mod_ssi¶

Server side includes module - Options:

• ssi.extension: extension of files processed by mod_ssi.
  mod_ssi documentation

mod_status¶

Server status module - Options:

• status.config-url: relative URL for the config page which displays the loaded modules.
• status.statistics-url: relative URL for a plain-text page containing the internal statistics.
• status.enable-sort: add JavaScript which allows client-side sorting for the connection overview.
• status.status-url: relative URL which is used to retrieve the status-page.
  mod_status documentation

mod_trigger_b4_dl¶

Trigger before download module - Options:

• trigger-before-download.trigger-url: url for trigger pages.
• trigger-before-download.trigger-timeout: time for download link to live.
• trigger-before-download.download-url: url for downloads.
• trigger-before-download.deny-url: url to show when visitor denied a download.
• trigger-before-download.gdbm-filename: path to gdm file.
• trigger-before-download.memcache-hosts: hosts for the memcache.* functions.
• trigger-before-download.memcache-namespace: (not used yet)
• trigger-before-download.debug:
  mod_trigger_b4_dl documentation

mod_userdir¶

User directories - Options:

• userdir.basepath: if set, don't check /etc/passwd for homedir.
• userdir.exclude-user: list of usernames which may not use this feature.
• userdir.path: usually it should be set to "public_html" to take ~/public_html/ as the document root.
• userdir.include-user: if set, only users from this list may use the feature.
  mod_userdir documentation

mod_uploadprogress¶

Upload progress module (version 1.5.0) - Options:

• upload-progress.progress-url:

mod_usertrack¶

User track module (cookies) - Options:

• usertrack.cookie-name:
• usertrack.cookiename-: (deprecated)
• usertrack.cookie-domain:
• usertrack.cookie-max-age:
  mod_usertrack documentation

mod_webdav¶

WebDAV module - Options:

• webdav.activate: enable/disable WebDAV.
• webdav.is-readonly: enable/disable read only.
• webdav.sqlite-db-name: pathname to SQLite database.
• webdav.log-xml: Log the XML Request bodies for debugging.
  mod_webdav documentation