Prisma

Prisma is a simple web server for (Fast)CGI applications. It supports classical cgi-bin//.cgi scripts, as well as (Fast)CGI compatible interpreters.

Usage

Invoke with prisma. This will run Prisma for the current directory at port 8080.

Note that when specifying config options on the command line, they need to follow --config, or the config file will overwrite the provided values.

CTRL-C will stop Prisma.

Options

Prisma web server 1.1.0.0
© 2021 Mainframe98

Usage: prisma

Options:
  -?, --help, -h             Display this help and exit.
  -v, --version              Show version information.
  -c, --config=VALUE         Path to the configuration file.
  -l, --log=VALUE            Path to the log file.
  -p, --port=VALUE           Port to listen to. Defaults to 8080.
  -d, --docroot=VALUE        Path to the document root (from which to serve the
                               files). Defaults to the working directory.
  -a, --allow-pathinfo       Allow path info.
      --enable-cgi-bin       Enable the cgi-bin/ directory.
      --enable-cgi-extension Treat all requests to scripts with a cgi extension
                               as cgi scripts.
      --listener-prefix=VALUE
                             Listen to these URI prefixes. This will overwrite
                               the default of 127.0.0.1 and the provided port,
                               and might require administrator privileges.
      --default-document=VALUE
                             Files to look for when a directory is requested.
  -j, --log-as-json          Log to the log file in the JSON format.
      --log-level=VALUE      Level of events to log. Supported levels: Verbose,
                               Debug, Information, Warning, Error, Fatal

Installation

Download an installer for Windows, or one of the binaries for linux and OSX.

See build.md for instructions how to build Prisma.

Configuration

Prisma is configured through a config file, which may be specified with --config. It defines supported interpreters under "Applications". A sample config file, with PHP as supported interpreter is available in config.sample.json.

RewriteRules

Prisma can rewrite incoming requests. It uses the .NET regular expression engine, with the key specifying a regex that the request should match (path, excluding query) and the value the replacement. The replacement may include a query, any query included with the request will be correctly appended to it.

Document handlers

CGI invocation

Prisma complies with RFC 3875, and provides the following additional environment variables:

• DOCUMENT_ROOT
• REMOTE_PORT
• REQUEST_URI
• UNIQUE_ID

Note that REMOTE_HOST is identical to REMOTE_ADDR in all circumstances.

Traditional cgi-bin invocations

Prisma supports cgi-bin directories. Requests directed to this directory will be treated as executables when EnableCgiBin is enabled in config.json, or the --enable-cgi-bin command line option is provided.

FastCGI invocation

Prisma utilizes the FastCGI for .NET library for FastCGI communication.

FastCGI sockets may be defined as either an ip address (local or external) or as a Unix socket file.

Prisma can launch FastCGI applications at startup, if an application is specified under the "LaunchConfiguration" key. This makes manually starting the application unnecessary. Prisma will attempt to close the application when Prisma is stopped itself. Note that this is sometimes finicky, as programs might not be entirely ready before control is returned to Prisma.

Default document handler

This handler will be used when no CGI/FastCGI handlers are defined for the given request. It will output the document as-is.

About the name

Prisma is the Frisian word for prism, which in itself is a reference to the logo for the Common Gateway Interface (CGI).

PrismaGUI

PrismaGUI is the WPF powered graphical user interface.