How to create a WWW server (A WWW FAQ)
OUT OF DATE - NO LONGER APPLIES
How to create a W3 server
(Warning: page under construction)
Questions
What's the difference between a server
and a gateway ? Which one do I need
? What's the easiest way to create
a server ? How do I customize the
distributed software to my needs
? How can I write an index server
?
Basics
Since this FAQ came up, a lot more
documentation about starting servers
has come onto the web, so it might
pay you to browse a bit more. There
are so many ways, that it might seem
complicated, but in fact most of
the methods are very easy.
The server that we distribute as
WWWDaemon is in two parts: a common
HTDaemon program taking care of the
communications, and a variable HTRetrieve
function called by HTDaemon with
the significant part of the address
(i.e. after host) split as argument
and keywords (look at the code).
The default HTRetrieve function,
located in HTRetrieve.c, in fact
runs the www common code library
functions (yes, the same fucntions
as in a client) to retrieve the information
Index server
An index server allows searches as
well as retrieval. To make an index
server, you need an HTRetrieve that
knows how to query a database, or
otherwise find information, from
keywords supplied after the '?' in
the address. It can be as simple
as a 'grep' in a series of files.
We provide 3 example index servers
built this way: VMSHelpGate, which
gives access to VMS help, FindGate
which gives access to a mainframe
search engine called XFind, and WAISGate,
which speaks the WAIS protocol to
contact their search engines. You
can read about all this in the Web...
Oh yes, the ISINDEX tag should be
returned by the server to notify
the client that it accepts searches.
Page under construction.
Tim BL