WHAT IS THIS?

This is the source distribution of NaviServer, a versatile multiprotocol (HTTP(S), etc.) server written in C/Tcl. It is designed to be easily extended in either language, allowing you to build innovative and scalable websites and services.

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Documentation
3. Compiling and Installing
4. Install NSF/XOTcl
5. Mailing Lists

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1. Introduction

NaviServer is maintained, enhanced, and distributed freely by the open source community. Download NaviServer or browse its bug/patch database on the SourceForge site.

The source code is hosted on GitHub and additional information can be found on the Tcl Wiki.

NaviServer is released as free and open source software. For full licensing details, please refer to the license.terms file included in this distribution.

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2. Documentation

Documentation is located in the doc subdirectory. Although it is still a work in progress, it will eventually be available in both Unix nroff format (ideal for viewing with the man command) and HTML format (compatible with any modern web browser).

The latest development documentation is available online at:
https://naviserver.sourceforge.io/n/toc.html

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3. Compiling and Installing

NaviServer compiles and runs on various platforms, including FreeBSD, Linux, Solaris, macOS 10.2+, and Windows.

An install script for Unix platforms (including macOS) with extensive configuration options is available from:
https://github.com/gustafn/install-ns

The following sections describe, in detail, how to compile and install NaviServer along with NSF.

3a. Download, Configure, Build and Install Tcl 8.5 or Better

If you already have Tcl installed and it was built with threads enabled, you can use it. Otherwise, download the latest Tcl release from tcl-lang.org and follow the included README instructions. You may install Tcl in the same directory where you plan to install NaviServer (e.g., /usr/local/ns, recommended to avoid version mismatches) or in a separate location.

Note: NaviServer 4.99.* requires Tcl 8.5 or Tcl 8.6, while NaviServer 5 support Tcl 9.

On a Unix-like system, run:

gunzip < tcl8.6.13-src.tar.gz | tar xvf -
cd tcl8.6.13/unix
./configure --prefix=/usr/local/ns --enable-threads --enable-symbols
make install

3b. Install GNU Make

The NaviServer makefiles require GNU Make. Verify your installation with:

make -v

If necessary, install GNU Make from gnu.org or get if via the package manager of your operating system.

3c. Download, Configure, Build, and Install NaviServer

Official releases:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/naviserver/files/

Latest development source code (Git repository):
https://github.com/naviserver-project/naviserver/

Git Branches:

• main (latest development code)
• release/4.99 (bug fixes for NaviServer 4.99.*)

To compile official releases, execute:

gunzip < naviserver-5.0.0.tar.gz | tar xvf -
cd naviserver-5.0.0
./configure --prefix=/usr/local/ns --with-tcl=/usr/local/ns/lib --enable-symbols
make
su -c 'make install'

Configure Script Options:

• --with-tcl=/usr/local/ns/lib
  Locate tclConfig.sh in the specified directory.

• --with-zlib=/usr
  Specify the location of the zlib headers (e.g., install via yum install zlib-devel on Fedora).

• --enable-symbols
  Build with debug symbols enabled (recommended).

• --prefix=/usr/local/ns
  Set the installation directory for programs, man pages, and runtime files. If you compile Tcl, use also for Tcl the same --prefix location.

To compile with the Purify tool, run:

make PURIFY="purify -cache-dir=/home/joe/my-cache-dir" install

If you clone NaviServer from GitHub, run ./autogen.sh with the configure options (instead of ./configure) to generate the makefiles. You will need recent versions of autoconf, automake, and the dtplite package from tcllib to build the documentation.

Tip: Use make build-doc to generate documentation; otherwise, make install may complain.

See make help for additional assistance.

3d. Create and Edit a NaviServer Configuration File

By convention, NaviServer uses a configuration file named nsd.tcl.

cd /usr/local/ns
cp sample-config.tcl nsd.tcl
vi nsd.tcl

Sample files are provided:

• nsd-config.tcl Simple configuration file, suitable for simple applications
• sample-config.tcl includes every configuration option and its default value (remove unused options).
• openacs-config.tcl NaviServer configuration file for OpenACS

Find the documentation for configuring NaviServer in admin-config.

3e. Run the Server in a Shell

Test NaviServer by running:

cd /usr/local/ns
./bin/nsd -f -t conf/nsd.tcl

The -f option runs the server in the foreground with important log messages directed to your terminal.

3f. Install Additional Modules

For tarball releases, compatible modules are provided via SourceForge. For example, to install a module named nsfoo:

gunzip < naviserver-5.0.0-modules.tar.gz | tar xvf -
cd modules/nsfoo
make install NAVISERVER=/usr/local/ns

Alternatively, clone modules from GitHub:

git clone https://github.com/naviserver-project/nsfoo.git
cd nsfoo
make install NAVISERVER=/usr/local/ns

For a complete list of modules, visit GitHub repositories.

3g. Compile for Windows with Msys + Mingw

Download the minimal environment from https://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw/files/.

1. Download the minimal Msys + Mingw environment from SourceForge.

2. Extract the zip file and follow the instructions in README.TXT to launch the msys shell.

3. In the msys shell, run:

   cd /c/naviserver-5.0.0
   ./configure --prefix=c:/naviserver --with-tcl=c:/naviserver/lib
   make install

Note: This example assumes Tcl is built with Mingw using the prefix c:/naviserver.

3h. Compile for Windows with MSVC

Update the tcl_64 and tcllib_64 variables in Makefile.win32 (in the NaviServer root directory) and check settings in include/Makefile.win32 (such as HAVE_OPENSSL_EVP_H and openssl_64).

Run the appropriate Microsoft build environment script, for example:

• "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars64.bat"
• "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1\Bin\SetEnv.Cmd" /Debug /x64 /win7

Then execute:

nmake -f Makefile.win32

3i. Cross-Compiling for Windows 64-bit (using gcc/mingw)

Some Mingw settings may not be auto-detected. Specify them explicitly:

./configure --host=x86_64-w64-mingw32 --enable-64-bit \
      --prefix=<path> --with-zlib=<path> --with-openssl=<path> --with-tcl=<path>/lib

CFLAGS="-DHAVE_INET_PTON -DHAVE_INET_NTON -DHAVE_GETADDRINFO -D_WIN32_WINNT=0x600" \
      LDFLAGS="-static-libgcc" \
      make LIBLIBS="-Wl,-Bstatic -lpthread -Wl,-Bdynamic"

Since the installation script does not expect the .exe extension, copy the executables without the extension as a workaround:

cp nsthread/nsthreadtest.exe nsthread/nsthreadtest
cp nsd/nsd.exe nsd/nsd
cp nsproxy/nsproxy.exe nsproxy/nsproxy
make install

3j. (Optional) To Compile for Windows with Cygwin

(Instructions for compiling with Cygwin will be provided if available.)

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4. Install NSF/XOTcl

NSF/XOTcl provides essential functions (e.g., cryptographic and reverse proxy capabilities) that enhance NaviServer’s features. Although optional for users of Tcl 8.5, these components are recommended for all installations.

Download NSF/XOTcl from either SourceForge or GitHub, and install it into the NaviServer source tree using the same --prefix as NaviServer:

git clone https://github.com/nm-wu/nsf
cd nsf
./configure --prefix=/usr/local/ns
make
sudo make install

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5. Mailing Lists

Join the NaviServer mailing lists to discuss configuration, development, and future directions. Visit:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/naviserver

Thank you for your interest in NaviServer. We hope you find it valuable and look forward to your contributions on our mailing lists.

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