From time to time we write code faster than documention. This basicly means that sometimes small gems are hidden and unknown to most users.

This time we want to put some focus on the new commandline options in lighttpd 1.4.0 and higher.

$ lighttpd -h
lighttpd-1.4.1 (ssl) (Aug 23 2005 16:37:21) - a light and fast webserver
usage:
 -f <name>  filename of the config-file
 -p         print the parsed config-file in internal form, and exit
 -t         test the config-file, and exit
 -D         don't go to background (default: go to background)
 -6         use IPv6
 -v         show version
 -h         show this help

The new options are -p and -t. They will help you to check that is everything is ok, before you start lighttpd with the new configuration.

$ lighttpd -t -f ./lighttpd.conf
Syntax OK

Especially if you start to use the the new features of lighttpd 1.4.0 like includes and expressions the print out of the parsed configuration will help you to see if everything really worked out as planed.