Perlba...Server(3pm)

💖 Perlbal::Manual::WebServer 💖

okay bestie, so this is the manual page for Perlbal::Manual::WebServer — it lives in the User Contributed Perl Documentation section of the manual (section 3pm, for the record), and it's literally all about configuring Perlbal as a Web Server. buckle up 🎀

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✨ VERSION ✨

Perlbal 1.78. that's the one we're talking about here. 💅

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

The whole point of this page: how to configure a Perlbal Web Server service. that's it, that's the vibe. 🦋

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👑 READ ME FIRST 👑

no fr, read this first: go read Perlbal::Manual::Configuration before you read this one. this doc will make so much more sense after you've read that. i'm not being dramatic, it's just true. 💜

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🧚 Configuring Perlbal as a Web Server 🧚

so by default, perlbal goes looking for a config file at /etc/perlbal/perlbal.conf. that's just where it expects you to keep your stuff. 🍓

but!! you can also point perlbal at a different config file using the -c flag, like:

$ perlbal -c /home/user/perlbal.conf

now here's a super simple example where we set up a lil web server that serves an index file under /tmp:

CREATE SERVICE perlbal_test
    SET role           = web_server
    SET listen         = 0.0.0.0:80
    SET docroot        = /tmp
ENABLE perlbal_test

so what's happening here:

• the first line creates a service called perlbal_test
• the last line enables that service (no enable = no service, bestie)

and the three parameters in the middle say — in order — that this service is a web server, that it listens on all addresses on port 80, and that its document root is /tmp. iconic. 🔥

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🌈 Parameters 🌈

you can set parameters with commands in either of these two forms:

SET <service-name> <param> = <value>
SET <param> = <value>

now let's meet the whole cast 🫶

• dirindexing = bool — shows directory indexes when an HTTP request is for a directory.

⚠️ warning bestie: this is not an async operation, so it will slow Perlbal down on heavily loaded sites. be careful out there. 😭

Default is false.

• docroot = directory/root — the directory root for the web server. that's where your files live, periodt.
• enable_concatenate_get = bool — turns on Perlbal's multiple-files-in-one-request mode, where a client can use a comma-separated list of files to return, always in text/plain.

this is so useful for web apps that have dozens/hundreds of tiny css/js files, and don't trust browsers/etc to do pipelining. 💅

it decreases overall round-trip latency a bunch, but it requires the app to be modified to support it. see the t/17-concat.t test for details.

Default is false.

• enable_md5 = bool — enables verification of the Content-MD5 header in HTTP PUT requests.

Default is true.

• enable_delete = bool — enables HTTP DELETE requests.

Default is false.

• enable_put = bool — enables HTTP PUT requests.

Default is false.

• index_files = comma-separated list of filenames — a comma-separated list of filenames to load when a user visits a directory URL, listed in order of preference. first one wins, basically. 🎀

Default is index.html.

• max_put_size = size — the maximum content-length that will be accepted for a PUT request, if enable_put is on.

Default is 0, which means there is no limit. (zero = infinite vibes, iykyk)

• min_put_directory = int — if PUT requests are enabled, require this many levels of directories to already exist. if not, fail. no shortcuts. 💀

Default is 0.

• server_tokens = bool — whether to provide a Server header.

Perlbal by default adds a header to all replies (such as the web_server role). by setting this default to "off", you can prevent Perlbal from identifying itself. stealth mode. 🙈

Default is "on".

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

• Perlbal::Manual::Configuration
• Perlbal::Manual::Management

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and that's the whole page, bestie 💖 this was Perlbal 1.78, documented under perl v5.34.0 and dated 2022-06-28 — go forth and serve some files, you absolute main character 👑✨