This a Rocket based HTTP server used to serve static content.

Why?

Over the years I've written way too many small http servers just to try something out with static content. At some point I realized I should just write a simple server and reuse it, but the code is so simple that making it its own project felt like overkill. One day I needed to install such a small http server as a Windows service and suddenly it was worth creating this project.

Build and run as a regular foreground process

Update Rocket.toml as appropriate and run:

cargo run

Windows Service Installation/Uninstallation

First build the server binary:

> cargo build --release

The resulting binary (staticrocket.exe) will be statically linked against the CRT, so there should be no need to install vcredist or other dependencies. In this example, for purposes of illustration, we'll assume the target binary is copied to C:\Temp\staticrocket.exe.

Next create a runtime directory for the server. This is the directory that staticrocket will switch to when it starts up and where it expects to find the Rocket.toml configuration file. Note that this this shouldn't be the static content directory being served. We'll use C:\Temp\myservice as an example.

Run the subcommand make-config to create a default configuration file:

> mkdir C:\Temp\myservice
> cd C:\Temp\myservice
> C:\Temp\staticrocket.exe make-config

This will create a Rocket.toml in the curent directory.

Change the configuration parameters as appropriate. In particular, change the htdocs to point to the directory that will be served by staticrocket, and create this directory if it does not exist.

Before registering the service, make sure you're in the service's runtime directory:

> cd C:\Temp\myservce

Register the service, using an elevated command prompt, by running:

> C:\Temp\staticrocket.exe register-service --name StaticRocket --display-name "Static Rocket" --description "Rocket HTTP server sharing static content" --auto-start

Registering the service will not start the service, though it is configured to autostart on boot.

In the service's registry section there's a Parameters subkey which contains the WorkDir and LogLevel parameters. The WorkDir is the directory from which the web server service will start; the Rocket.toml should be located in this directory. It will default to the directory the register-service subcommand was run from. The LogLevel have the same function as the one's in Rocket.toml, but the one in the registry must be used for Windows services.

To uninstall the service use the deregister-service subcommand in an elevated command prompt:

> C:\Temp\staticrocket.exe deregister-service --name StaticRocket

Linux/systemd Service Installation

Note: This does not currently work due to qsu being incomplete

Running with the first argument as register-service and the second as unit name will create a unit file for you in /etc/systemd/system.

Assuming the staticrocket binary has been been built and copied to /usr/local/bin/staticrocket running:

$ sudo /usr/local/bin/staticrocket register-service mystaticcontent

.. will install a systemd unit file in /etc/systemd/system/mystaticcontent.service. The command should be run from the directory where the application instance's Rocket.toml resides.

The service will neither be started nor enabled. To make it automatically start on boot run:

$ sudo systemctl enable mystaticcontent.service

To start it immediately run:

$ sudo systemctl start mystaticcontent.service

There's no corresponding deregister-service. To uninstall: stop, disable and remove the unit:

$ sudo systemctl stop mystaticcontent.service
$ sudo systemctl disable mystaticcontent.service
$ sudo rm /etc/systemd/system/mystaticcontent.service