Install bozohttpd with Homebrew, Nix

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• bozohttpd

Project history

The official manual says bozohttpd was first written in Perl, based on another Perl HTTP server named tinyhttpd, then rewritten from scratch in Perl and again in C. Matthew R. Green is listed as the author, with a long contributor list from the NetBSD community.

From version 20060517, bozohttpd became integrated into NetBSD. The NetBSD source tree keeps it under libexec/httpd, and the CHANGES file documents an ongoing maintenance stream of portability, CGI, TLS, directory listing, authentication, MIME type, and security fixes.

Adoption history

The main adoption path is operating-system integration rather than standalone application hype: bozohttpd ships as a NetBSD component and is packaged by systems such as Homebrew and Nix according to the input package facts.

Its history shows continued downstream-driven maintenance. The CHANGES file names fixes and contributions for FreeBSD portability, Linux builds, Debian bug reports, OpenSSL changes, and NetBSD problem reports.

How it is used

bozohttpd serves static files and optional CGI-style dynamic content with a deliberately small feature set. The manual covers daemon mode, virtual hosts, TLS options, directory indexing, basic authentication, CGI mappings, and Lua script handling.

The package is most useful when a small local or system HTTP daemon is enough and a larger web server would be excessive. Its `.htpasswd` support explains the credentials-file curation for basic authentication.

Why package nerds care

bozohttpd matters to package nerds because it is a BSD base-system web server that is still portable enough to appear as a package elsewhere. It is the kind of tool that exposes the line between operating-system component, inetd-era utility, and standalone formula.

Its CHANGES file is also a compact history of long-tail web-server maintenance: path traversal hardening, auth bypass fixes, CGI corner cases, TLS defaults, and MIME updates over decades.

Timeline

• Pre-2006: Manual records Perl origins, a fresh Perl rewrite, and a later C rewrite.
• 2006: Version 20060517 integrated bozohttpd into NetBSD.
• 2010: Internal interfaces were reworked so parts could be used as a library, and Lua bindings were added.
• 2018: CHANGES records fixes for `.htpasswd` and special-file bypass issues.
• 2026: Manual documents bozohttpd version 20260508.

Related projects

• The manual names tinyhttpd as the Perl HTTP server that influenced the earliest bozohttpd implementation.
• Related package-manager neighbors include other compact HTTP daemons such as thttpd, darkhttpd, busybox httpd, and NetBSD's own inetd-oriented tooling.

Sources

• https://man.netbsd.org/bozohttpd.8
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NetBSD/src/trunk/libexec/httpd/CHANGES
• source_facts.package-manager