TinCanHTTP

A lightweight HTTP server built from scratch in C using raw POSIX sockets. No frameworks, no libraries — just syscalls and stubbornness.

Features

• TCP socket server listening on port 8080
• Route table with function pointer dispatch
• Serves multiple pages: index, about, contact, and 404
• Persistent connection loop for handling multiple requests
• Clean error handling on socket, bind, and accept

Build

gcc -o server main.c

Run

./server

Then visit http://localhost:8080 in your browser.

Routes

Path	Handler	Description
/	server_index_page	Home page
/about	server_about_page	About page
/contact	server_contact_page	Contact page
*	server_404_page	404 fallback

How It Works

The server follows the standard POSIX socket lifecycle:

1. socket() — create a TCP socket
2. bind() — attach to INADDR_ANY:8080
3. listen() — mark as passive
4. accept() — block until a client connects
5. read() — pull the raw HTTP request
6. Route matching — sscanf parses the method and path, then a loop through the route table finds the right handler
7. write() — send back an HTTP response
8. close() — clean up the client connection
9. Loop back to step 4

License

Do whatever you want with it.