hfs

This file contains details about the configuration files.

Where is it stored

Configuration is stored in the file config.yaml, exception made for custom HTML which is stored in custom.html.

These files are kept in the Current Working Directory (cwd), which is by default the same folder of hfs.exe. if you are using this kind of distribution on Windows, or USER_FOLDER/.hfs on other systems. Many things are stored in the CWD, like the plugins you install. You can decide a different CWD passing --cwd SOME_FOLDER parameter at command line.

If you are not sure what your cwd is, look in the console, and you’ll see that it is printed in one of the first lines. Here is an example, look at the 7th line:

HFS ~ HTTP File Server - Copyright 2021-2023, Massimo Melina <a@rejetto.com>
License https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.txt
started 10/5/2023, 10:03:23 AM
version 0.49.0
build 2023-10-04T19:46:22.610Z
pid 27302
cwd /Users/rejetto/.hfs
node v18.17.1
config config.yaml

How to modify configuration

Configuration can be done in several ways

• accessing the Admin-panel with your browser
  • it will automatically open when you start HFS. Bookmark it. if your port is 8000 the address will be http://localhost:8000/~/admin
• passing via command line at start in the form --NAME VALUE
• using envs in the form HFS_NAME (eg: HFS_PORT)
• directly editing the config.yaml file. As soon as you save it is reloaded and changes are applied
  • if you don’t want to use an editor, consider typing this (example) command inside the folder where the config file is: echo "port: 1080" >> config.yaml
• after HFS has started you can enter console command in the form config NAME VALUE

NAME stands for the property name that you want to change. See the complete list below.

Configuration properties

• port where to accept http connections. Default is 80.
• vfs the files and folders you want to expose. For details see the dedicated following section.
• log path of the log file. Default is access.log.
• log_rotation frequency of log rotation. Accepted values are daily, weekly, monthly, or empty string to disable. Default is weekly.
• log_api should api calls be logged? Default is true.
• log_gui should GUI files be logged? Default is false.
• error_log path of the log file for errors. Default is error.log.
• errors_in_main_log if you want to use a single file for both kind of entries. Default is false.
• dont_log_net don’t include in log entries if IP matches this network mask. Default is 127.0.0.1|::1.
• accounts list of accounts. For details see the dedicated following section.
• mime command what mime-type to be returned with some files. E.g.: "*.jpg": image/jpeg You can specify multiple entries, or separate multiple file masks with a p|pe. You can use the special value auto to attempt automatic detection.
• max_kbps throttle output speed. Default is Infinity.
• max_kbps_per_ip throttle output speed on a per-ip basis. Default is Infinity.
• zip_calculate_size_for_seconds how long should we wait before the zip archive starts streaming, trying to understand its finale size. Default is 1.
• open_browser_at_start should HFS open browser on localhost on start? Default is true.
• https_port listen on a specific port. Default is 443.
• cert use this file for https certificate. Minimum to start https is to give a cert and a private_key. Default is none.
• private_key use this file for https private key. Default is none.
• allowed_referer you can decide what domains can link to your files. Wildcards supported. Default is empty, meaning any.
• block a list of rules that will block connections. E.g.:

    block:
      - ip: 192.168.0.90
  

  Syntax supports wildcards and more.

• plugins_config this is a generic place where you can find/put configuration for each plugin, at least those that need configuration.
• enable_plugins if a plugin is not present in this list, it won’t run. Defaults is [ antibrute ].
• localhost_admin should Admin be accessed without credentials when on localhost. Default is true.
• proxies number of proxies between server and clients to be trusted about providing clients’ IP addresses. Default is 0.
• delete_unfinished_uploads_after should unfinished uploads be deleted after a number of seconds. 0 for immediate, empty for never. Default is 1 day.
• favicon path to file to be used as favicon. Default is none.
• force_https redirect http traffic to https. Requires https to be working. Default is false.
• force_lang force translation for frontend. Default is none, meaning let browser decide.
• admin_net net-mask specifying what addresses are allowed to access Admin-panel. Default is any.
• title text displayed in the tab of your browser. Default is “File server”.
• file_menu_on_link if to display file-menu when clicking on link, or have a dedicated button instead. Default is true.
• min_available_mb refuse to accept uploads if available disk space is below this threshold. Default is 100.
• dont_overwrite_uploading uploading a file with name already present in the folder will be renamed if this is enabled. Default is false.
• keep_session_alive keeps you logged in while the page is left open and the computer is on. Default is true.
• session_duration after how many seconds should the login session expire. Default is a day.
• acme_domain domain used for ACME certificate generation. Default is none.
• acme_email email used for ACME certificate generation. Default is none.
• force_base_url disconnect any connection that’s not using the domain used for ACME certificate generation. Default is none.
• acme_renew automatically renew acme certificate close to expiration. Default is false.
• listen_interface network interface to listen on, by specifying IP address. Default is any.
• base_url URL to be used for links generation. Default is automatic.
• ignore_proxies stop warning about detected proxies. Default is false.
• descript_ion enable reading and writing of comments in the old file format DESCRIPT.ION. Default is yes.
• descript_ion_encoding text encoding to be used for file DESCRIPT.ION. List of supported values. Default is utf8.
• server_code javascript code that works similarly to a plugin.
• tiles_size starting value for frontend’s tiles size. Default is 0.
• update_to_beta includes beta versions searching for updates. Default is false.
• roots maps hosts (or mask of hosts) to a root different from the home folder. Default is none. E.g.

  roots:
    music.domain.com: /music
    image.domain.com: /image
  

• roots_mandatory disconnect any request not made with one of the hosts specified in roots. Default is false.
• max_downloads limit the number of concurrent downloads on the whole server. Default is unlimited.
• max_downloads_per_ip limit the number of concurrent downloads for the same IP address. Default is unlimited.
• max_downloads_per_account limit the number of concurrent downloads for each account. This is enforced only for connections that are logged in, and will override other similar settings. Default is unlimited.
• geo_enable when enabled, country is determined for each request/connection. Necessary database will be downloaded every month (2MB).
• geo_allow set true if geo_list should be treated as white-list, set false for black-list. Default will ignore the list.
• geo_list list of country codes to be used as white-list or black-list. Default is empty.
• geo_allow_unknown set false to disconnect connections for which country cannot be determined. Works only if geo_allow is set. Default is true.
• create-admin special entry to quickly create an admin account. The value will be set as password. As soon as the account is created, this entry is removed.

Virtual File System (VFS)

The virtual file system is a tree of files and folders, collectively called nodes. By default, a node is a folder, unless you provide for it a source that’s a file. Valid keys in a node are:

• name: this is the name we’ll use to display this file/folder. If not provided, HFS will infer it from the source. At least name or source must be provided.
• source: absolute or relative path of where to get the content
• children: just for folders, specify its virtual children. Value is a list and its entries are nodes.
• rename: similar to name, but it’s from the parent node point. Use this to change the name of entries that are read from the source, not listed in the VFS. Value is a dictionary, where the key is the original name.
• mime: specify what mime to use for this resource. Use “auto” for automatic detection.
• default: to be used with a folder where you want to serve a default html. E.g.: “index.html”. Using this will make mime default to “auto”.
• can_read: specify who can download this entry. Value is a WhoCan descriptor, which is one of these values
  • true: anyone can, even people who didn’t log in. This is normally the default value.
  • false: no one can.
  • "*": any account can, i.e. anyone who logged in.
  • [ frank, peter ]: the list of accounts who can.
  • { this?: WhoCan, children?: WhoCan }: this form is useful only for folders. By using it, you can have different permission for the folder itself and its children. For example, having only the this property will make the permission limited to the folder and not be inherited by children. Otherwise, having only the children will make the permission have no effect on the folder, but only on its content.
    • this specifies permission for this folder
    • children specifies permission for the content.
• can_see: specify who can see this element. Even if a user can download you can still make the file not appear in the list. Value is a WhoCan descriptor, refer above.
• can_upload: specify who can upload. Applies to folders with a source. Default is none.
• can_delete: specify who can delete. Applies to folders with a source. Default is none.
• masks: maps a file mask to a set of properties as the one documented in this section. E.g.

  myfile.txt:
    can_see: false
    can_read: false
  "**/*.mp3":
    can_read: false
  "*.jpg|*.png": 
    mime: auto
  

  Rules on top have priority over bottom rules. Inner rules have priority over parent’s rules. A mask can carry any node property (even property “masks”) plus a special property maskOnly (optional) to restrict the application of the mask to only files or folders, just by specifying exactly files or folders

Permissions set on an inner element will override inherited permissions. This means that you can restrict access to folder1, and yet decide to give free access to folder1/subfolder2.

Accounts

All accounts go under accounts: property, as a dictionary where the key is the username. E.g.

accounts:
    admin:
        password: hello123
        admin: true
    frank:
        password: another
        belongs: group1
    guest:
        password: guest
    group1:

As soon as the config is read HFS will encrypt passwords (if necessary) in a non-reversible way. It means that password property is replaced with an encrypted property: srp.

As you can see in the example, group1 has no password. This implies that you cannot log in as group1, but still group1 exists and its purpose is to gather multiple accounts and refer to them collectively as group1, so you can quickly share powers among several accounts.

For each account entries, this is the list of properties you can have:

• ignore_limits to ignore speed limits. Default is false.
• redirect provide a URL if you want the user to be redirected upon login. Default is none.
• admin set true if you want to let this account log in to the Admin-panel. Default is false.
• belongs an array of usernames of other accounts from which to inherit their permissions. Default is none.
• disable_password_change set true if you want to forbid password change for users. Default is false.

Specify another file

Do you need to load a different config file, even from a different folder? Use this parameter at command line --config PATH or similarly with an env HFS_CONFIG. The path you specify can be either a folder, or full-path to the file.

This site is open source. Improve this page.