Althttpd is a light-weight web server that has been used to implement the SQLite and Fossil websites for well over a decade. Althttpd strives for simplicity, security, ease of configuration, and low resource usage.

To set up a Fossil server as CGI on a host running the althttpd web server, follow these steps.

Get the althttpd webserver running on the host. This is easily done by following the althttpd documentation.

1. Create a CGI script for your Fossil repository. The script will be typically be two lines of code that look something like this:

       #!/usr/bin/fossil
       repository: /home/yourlogin/fossils/project.fossil
   

   Modify the filenames to conform to your system, of course. The CGI script accepts other options besides the repository:" line. You can add in other options as you desire, but the single "repository:" line is normally all that is needed to get started.

2. Make the CGI script executable.

3. Verify that the fossil repository file and the directory that contains the repository are both writable by whatever user the web server is running and.

And you are done. Visit the URL that corresponds to the CGI script you created to start using your Fossil server.

Return to the top-level Fossil server article.