The "server" command:

Usage: fossil server ?OPTIONS? ?REPOSITORY?
or: fossil ui ?OPTIONS? ?REPOSITORY?

Open a socket and begin listening and responding to HTTP requests on TCP port 8080, or on any other TCP port defined by the -P or --port option. The optional REPOSITORY argument is the name of the Fossil repository to be served. The REPOSITORY argument may be omitted if the working directory is within an open check-out, in which case the repository associated with that check-out is used.

The "ui" command automatically starts a web browser after initializing the web server. The "ui" command also binds to 127.0.0.1 and so will only process HTTP traffic from the local machine.

If REPOSITORY is a directory name which is the root of a check-out, then use the repository associated with that check-out. This only works for the "fossil ui" command, not the "fossil server" command.

If REPOSITORY begins with a "HOST:" or "USER@HOST:" prefix, then the command is run on the remote host specified and the results are tunneled back to the local machine via SSH. This feature only works for the "fossil ui" command, not the "fossil server" command. The name of the fossil executable on the remote host is specified by the --fossilcmd option, or if there is no --fossilcmd, it first tries "fossil" and if it is not found in the default $PATH set by SSH on the remote, it then adds "$HOME/bin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/homebrew/bin" to the PATH and tries again to run "fossil".

REPOSITORY may also be a directory (aka folder) that contains one or more repositories with names ending in ".fossil". In this case, a prefix of the URL pathname is used to search the directory for an appropriate repository. To thwart mischief, the pathname in the URL must contain only alphanumerics, "_", "/", "-", and ".", and no "-" may occur after "/", and every "." must be surrounded on both sides by alphanumerics. Any pathname that does not satisfy these constraints results in a 404 error. Files in REPOSITORY that match the comma-separated list of glob patterns given by --files and that have known suffixes such as ".txt" or ".html" or ".jpeg" and do not match the pattern "*.fossil*" will be served as static content. With the "ui" command, the REPOSITORY can only be a directory if the --notfound option is also present.

For the special case REPOSITORY name of "/", the global configuration database is consulted for a list of all known repositories. The --repolist option is implied by this special case. The "fossil ui /" command is equivalent to "fossil all ui". To see all repositories owned by "user" on machine "remote" via ssh, run "fossil ui user@remote:/".

By default, the "ui" command provides full administrative access without having to log in. This can be disabled by turning off the "localauth" setting. Automatic login for the "server" command is available if the --localauth option is present and the "localauth" setting is off and the connection is from localhost. The "ui" command also enables --repolist by default.

Options:

--acme

Deliver files from the ".well-known" subdirectory

--baseurl URL

Use URL as the base (useful for reverse proxies)

--cert FILE

Use TLS (HTTPS) encryption with the certificate (the fullchain.pem) taken from FILE.

--chroot DIR

Use directory for chroot instead of repository path

--ckout-alias NAME

Treat URIs of the form /doc/NAME/... as if they were /doc/ckout/...

--create

Create a new REPOSITORY if it does not already exist

--errorlog FILE

Append HTTP error messages to FILE

--extroot DIR

Document root for the /ext extension mechanism

--files GLOBLIST

Comma-separated list of glob patterns for static files

--fossilcmd PATH

The pathname of the "fossil" executable on the remote system when REPOSITORY is remote.

--localauth

Enable automatic login for requests from localhost

--localhost

Listen on 127.0.0.1 only (always true for "ui")

--https

Indicates that the input is coming through a reverse proxy that has already translated HTTPS into HTTP.

--jsmode MODE

Determine how JavaScript is delivered with pages. Mode can be one of:

inline

All JavaScript is inserted inline at the end of the HTML file.

separate

Separate HTTP requests are made for each JavaScript file.

bundled

One single separate HTTP fetches all JavaScript concatenated together.

Depending on the needs of any given page, inline and bundled modes might result in a single amalgamated script or several, but both approaches result in fewer HTTP requests than the separate mode.

--mainmenu FILE

Override the mainmenu config setting with the contents of the given file

--max-latency N

Do not let any single HTTP request run for more than N seconds (only works on unix)

-B|--nobrowser

Do not automatically launch a web-browser for the "fossil ui" command

--nocompress

Do not compress HTTP replies

--nojail

Drop root privileges but do not enter the chroot jail

--nossl

Do not force redirects to SSL even if the repository setting "redirect-to-https" requests it. This is set by default for the "ui" command.

--notfound URL

Redirect to URL if a page is not found.

-p|--page PAGE

Start "ui" on PAGE. ex: --page "timeline?y=ci"

--pkey FILE

Read the private key used for TLS from FILE

-P|--port [IP:]PORT

Listen on the given IP (optional) and port

--repolist

If REPOSITORY is dir, URL "/" lists repos

--scgi

Accept SCGI rather than HTTP

--skin LABEL

Use override skin LABEL

--th-trace

Trace TH1 execution (for debugging purposes)

--usepidkey

Use saved encryption key from parent process. This is only necessary when using SEE on Windows or Linux.

See also: cgi, http, winsrv