Boa: quickly run a http server on any directory

I was searching for a lightweight but robust HTTP server which I can run with any arbitrary directory as root. And configuration should be as easy as possible. I found Boa. It is written in C with embedded systems in mind. Believe it or not, it’s just ~300KB in size! Here’s a step by step guide on how to install and use it on Ubuntu. The procedure should be similar for other Linux distros as well.

• Install boa.

  $ sudo apt-get install boa

• Navigate to the directory which should be the http root.
• Copy the boa configuration file to the directory.

  $ cp /etc/boa/boa.conf .

• Change the DocumentRoot.

  DocumentRoot /var/www
  to
  DocumentRoot .

• Change ErrorLog and AccessLog configs to a location where you have access. You can also comment them out if it’s just a temporary server.
• Save conf and run boa with current directory as server root.

  $ sudo boa -c .

If everything goes fine, your http server should be up and running by now. Run localhost in your browser to access your site. If you have a static IP and your router/firewall settings/ISP permit your friends can access your server over the internet as well.

Webpage: Boa