WBOX(1)

📦 version 5, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 WBOX(1) — like, the wbox manual, but make it make sense 💖

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, because we're about to talk about wbox — that's the manual page name right there in the corner, general commands section, and she's so much fun. no cap.

✨ NAME ✨

wbox — HTTP testing tool and configuration-less HTTP server 🦋

like. it tests HTTP. and it also serves files with zero config. it's giving multitasking icon.

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

wbox <url> [ options ]
wbox servermode webroot <path> [serverport <portnumber> (def 8081)]

two whole modes, two whole vibes. pick your fighter 💅

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

so the whole point of wbox, per her own words, is to help you have fun while testing HTTP stuff. not just "do" it. have fun. main character energy fr fr.

here's what you can do with her:

  • Benchmark how long it takes to generate content for your web app. ⏱️
  • Stress your web server and your web app. 😤
  • Test virtual domains configuration without having to touch your local resolver. no editing /etc/hosts, we're not doing that today.
  • Use her as a configuration-less HTTP server to share files! 🫶 zero config, just vibes.

👑 OPTIONS 👑

one bullet per option, all of them, no skipping, periodt.

  • <number> — stop after <number> requests. a little "okay that's enough" button.
  • compr — sends Accept-Encoding: gzip,deflate in the request. ask for the compressed girlies.
  • showhdr — show the HTTP reply header. just the header, she's private like that.
  • dump — show the HTTP reply header + body. full tea, no filter.
  • silent — don't show status lines. shhh 🤫
  • head — use the HEAD method instead of GET.
  • http10 — use HTTP/1.0 instead of HTTP/1.1. retro moment.
  • close — close the connection after reading few bytes. dramatic exit 💅
  • host <hostname> — use <hostname> as the Host: field in the HTTP request.
  • timesplit — show transfer times for different data chunks. the receipts ✨
  • wait <number> — wait <number> seconds between requests. default 1.
  • clients <number> — spawn <number> concurrent clients (via fork()). chaos, organized.
  • referer <url> — send the specified referer header.
  • cookie <name> <val> — set cookie name=val. can be used multiple times, stack 'em 🍪
  • maxclients <number> — max concurrent clients in server mode (default 20).
  • -h or --help — show this help.
  • -v — show version.

🌈 USAGE EXAMPLES 🌈

copied exactly, because these are the whole blueprint:

wbox wikipedia.org                  (simplest, basic usage)

wbox wikipedia.org 3 compr wait 0   (three requests, compression, no delay)

wbox wikipedia.org 1 showhdr silent (just show the HTTP reply header)

wbox wikipedia.org timesplit        (show split time information)

wbox 1.2.3.4 host example.domain    (test a virtual domain at 1.2.3.4)

wbox servermode webroot /tmp/mydocuments  (Try it with http://127.0.0.1:8081)

see how easy that was? no config file. no yaml. no anything. obsessed. 😭💖

🧚 TUTORIAL 🧚

wbox is trivial to use, like genuinely trivial, but if you wanna really understand what she is and how to use her, go read the TUTORIAL inside the /usr/share/doc/wbox/ directory. it's right there. reading is self care 🫶

💜 AUTHOR 💜

wbox was written by Salvatore 'antirez' Sanfilippo <antirez@gmail.com>. king behavior 👑

this manual page was written by Alberto Furia <straluna@email.it>, for the Debian project (and may be used by others). queen behavior 👑

okay that's the whole page bestie, we ate and left zero crumbs ✨ this was the wbox manual from the General Commands Manual section, dated December 10, 2009 — yeah she's an older icon but she still slays, and that's on periodt 💅🎀🦋

📦 where this page comes from