Carbon HTTP Server

This is a simple HTTP server for linux operating system written in C. It supports basic HTTP requests, logging, etc. NOTE: This program is being used as a fun projects to see limits of C. I'll be not responsible for any vulnerabilities. If you find vulnerabilities please report them.

Features

• Handles GET requests for static files.
• Supports a control menu for managing server status, logging, and configuration (currently basic).
• Uses pthreads for concurrent client handling.
• Includes basic logging functionality with timestamps.
• Configuration is loaded from a JSON file (server.json).

Future development

This section outlines potential features and improvements planned for future releases of the server.

Prioraty features

Enhancement	Description	Priority	Completion
Basic HTTP and HTTPS server Functionality	Switching from HTTP to HTTPS	Medium	✅
Logging Mechanism	Add logging mechanism for better error handleling	Low	✅
SSL/TLS Support	Implement SSL/TLS Support for HTTP/s	High	✅

Planned Features

Enhancement	Description	Priority	Completion
WebSocket Support	Implement WebSocket protocol for real-time communication.	Medium	❌
Rate Limiting	Add rate limiting to prevent abuse and DDoS attacks.	High	❌
User Authentication	Implement user authentication for secure access to certain endpoints.	High	❌
API Documentation	Create comprehensive API documentation using Swagger or similar tools.	Medium	❌
Load Balancing	Support for load balancing across multiple server instances.	Low	❌

Performance Improvements

Enhancement	Description	Priority	Completion
Connecting Pooling	Implement connection pooling to improve performance under load.	High	❌
Asynchronous I/O	Use asynchronous I/O to handle more connections efficiently.	Medium	❌
Caching Mechanism	Introduce caching for static resources to reduce server load.	Medium	❌

Security Enhancements

Enhancement	Description	Priority	Completion
Buffer Overflow Prevention	Implement comprehensive input validation to prevent injection attacks.	High	❌
HTTPS Redirect	Automatically redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS.	High	❌
Security Audits	Conduct regular security audits and vulnerability assessments.	Medium	❌

Community Contributions

Contribution Area	Description	Priority	Notes
Documentation	Improve and expand documentation for developers and users.	Medium	Open for contributions
Testing	Create unit tests and integration tests for better coverage.	High	Contributions welcome
Feature Requests	Encourage users to submit feature requests and suggestions.	Low	Use GitHub Issues

Build Instructions

1. Prerequisites:

   • GCC compiler
   • Make (recommended)
   • OpenSSL libraries (libssl, libcrypto)
   • pthreads library
   • cJSON library

2. Clone the repository (optional):

   git clone https://github.com/Azreyo/Carbon  
   cd Carbon/
   

3. Compile:

   gcc server.c config_parser.c server_config.c -o server -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -pthread -lcjson -lcjson -I/usr/include/cjson
   

   Compile it in gcc

   make
   

   This command will use the provided Makefile to compile the source files, link the necessary libraries, and create the executable in the bin directory.

   make clean
   

   Cleanup of the unnecessary files after compiling.

4. Create www directory:

   mkdir www
   

   Place your HTML files (e.g., index.html) inside the www directory.

5. Create server.json:

   Create a server.json file in the same directory as the executable with the following structure:

   {
     "port": 8080,
     "use_https": false,
     "log_file": "server.log",
     "max_threads": 4,
     "running": true,
     "automatic_startup": false
   }
   

   Adjust the values as needed. use_https is not yet implemented.

Run Instructions

1. Get IP address of your device that the program will run on:

ip address

2. Enable port 8080 for ufw

sudo ufw allow 8080 # 8080 is the default port

3. Run it and enjoy

./bin/server  # Run the executable from the bin directory

For using HTTP/s

mkdir certs # Create certs folder
cd certs

Create certs folder to create certificates to it.

openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout key.pem -out cert.pem -days 365 -nodes

Generating pairs of keys key.pem and and cert.pem for 365 days. Note: its only self-signed browser may get Potential Security Risk. For further use on domains is recommended Let's encrypt.