Lighttpd Webserver for Citadel

Setting up Lighttpd Webserver for Citadel

Lighttpd is a free and open-source web server, designed for speed, efficiency, and flexibility.

This tutorial is designed to work hand in glove with our citadel docker installation tutorial. We will install this on Void Linux but besides the lighttpd installation, everything should work on any NIX.

Void Linux Installation

xbps-install -Suv
xbps-install -S lighttpd

• configuration file location

/etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf

• Check that your configuration is ok:

lighttpd -tt -f /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf

• start the server for testing:

lighttpd -D -f /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf

• Enable Lighttpd to start automatically at boot time (This is Void linux/runit init specific. Check your distros init system documentation):

ln -s /etc/sv/lighttpd /var/service/

• Start the Lighttpd service:

sv start lighttpd

• /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf

# See /usr/share/doc/lighttpd
# and http://redmine.lighttpd.net/projects/lighttpd/wiki/Docs:ConfigurationOptions

server.username       = "_lighttpd"
server.groupname      = "_lighttpd"
server.document-root  = "/srv/www/lighttpd"
server.errorlog       = "/var/log/lighttpd/error.log"
dir-listing.activate  = "enable"
index-file.names      = ( "index.html" )

server.modules += ( "mod_proxy", "mod_openssl" )

static-file.exclude-extensions = ( ".fcgi", ".php", ".rb", "~", ".inc" )

$SERVER["socket"] == ":443" {
    ssl.engine = "enable"
    ssl.pemfile = "/etc/letsencrypt/live/srv.example.net/fullchain.pem"
    ssl.privkey = "/etc/letsencrypt/live/srv.example.net/privkey.pem"
}


$HTTP["host"] == "mail.example.net" {
    proxy.balance = "hash"
    proxy.server = (
        "" => (
            "citadel" => (
                "host" => "127.0.1.2",
                "port" => "8080"
            )
        )
    )
    ssl.pemfile = "/etc/letsencrypt/live/mail.example.net/fullchain.pem"
    ssl.privkey = "/etc/letsencrypt/live/mail.example.net/privkey.pem"
}

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First Created: 2025-04-04
Last Modified: 2026-04-05 19:35