Configure lighttpd alias (mod_alias)

by nixCraft on July 25, 2006 · 8 comments· LAST UPDATED March 8, 2008

This lighttpd module provides for mapping different parts of the host filesystem in the document tree. You can use it for mapping various directories. For example cgi-bin directory mapped to /var/lib/cgi-bin. The alias module is used to specify a special document-root for a given url-subset.

Configuration

Open your lighttpd configuration file:
vi /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf

Append/add mod_ alias to list of server modules:
server.modules += ( "mod_alias" )

Examples

Add cgi-bin alias for doamin theos.in
alias.url = ( "/cgi-bin/" => "/home/lighttpd/theos.in/cgi-bin/" )

Browse all documents installed at /usr/share/doc/ directory with following alias:
alias.url = ( "/docs/" => "/usr/share/doc/" ) alias.url += ( "/stats/" => "/home/theos.in/http/webalizer/" )

Open a browser and type url http://theos.in/docs/ or http://your-domain.com/docs/

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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Dunxd October 2, 2006 at 4:32 pm: Want to add more than one alias?
Use += for subsequent alias.url lines.
E.g.
alias.url = ( "/cgi-bin/" => "/home/lighttpd/theos.in/cgi-bin/" ) alias.url += ( "docs/" => "/usr/share/doc/" )
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2 Dunxd October 2, 2006 at 4:36 pm: On Windows the trailing slash for the alias (the first path) breaks the configuration.
E.g.
alias.url = ( "/docs/" => "/usr/share/doc/" ) ^
Doesn’t work.
alias.url = ( "/docs" => "/usr/share/doc/" )
Does work.
Reply
3 nixcraft October 2, 2006 at 6:52 pm: Dunxd,
Thanks for pointing out windows and UNIX difference while configuring alias.
Appreciate your post.
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4 nixcraft October 2, 2006 at 7:00 pm: You can use += or use following syntax:
alias.url = ( "/stats/star/" => "/home/lighttpd/stats/out/", "/docs/" => "/usr/share/docs/", "/somedir/" => "/home/somewhere/" )
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5 Minh July 6, 2007 at 5:55 pm: In this line:
server.modules += ( “mod_ alias” )
Is the space bewteen “mod_” and “alias” intentional?
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6 vivek July 6, 2007 at 6:17 pm: > Is the space bewteen “mod_” and “alias” intentional?
Noop, it was a typo.
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7 Howard Miller March 7, 2008 at 10:59 am: It appears that when using an alias, the index.file-names setting is ignored. If, for example, you want index.php to be found then it won’t work with an alias.
Is this a bug, or am I missing something obvious?
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8 Sirolway August 5, 2009 at 12:12 pm: I’m trying to configure a couple of aliases using lighttpd for Windows
The second alias is nested in a sub-sub folder of the first, so the folder structure is
c:\firstDir\secondDir\thirdDir
The application I’m trying to use references http://servername/firstDir/thirdDir…
So I need to configure Lighttpd to do this…
Lighttpd won’t start if I try:
alias.url = (
“/firstDir/” => “C:/firstDir/”,
“/firstDir/thirdDir/” => “C:/firstDir/secondDir/thirdDir/”
)
Can anyone tell me how I can configure aliases that are nested inside other aliases…?
TIA
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