Using a port other than 80 with lighttpd on Mac OS?

Question

I've just installed lighttpd on Mac OS 10.6, but:

$ lighttpd -f lighttpd.conf -D
2011-10-05 19:01:32: (network.c.358) can't bind to port:  80 Permission denied 
$ lsof -i :80
[a ton of processes]

How can I start lighttpd on a different port?

Answer 1

2 options:

1. put something like this into your lighttpd.conf:

   server.port = 8000
   

2. launch lighttpd with admin-rights via sudo:

   $> sudo lighttpd -f lighttpd.conf -D
   

Also read the lighthttpd configuration tutorial.

Answer 2

You've already been answered about how to set a specific port but there are still two points to be highlighted in your question:

1. as regular user you cannot bind TCP/IP ports below 1024, a common threshold for system services, hence the permission denied error

2. the ton of processes come from listing your user's outgoing connection (probably web browsing); filter listening and privileged port instead:

   sudo lsof -i :80 | grep LISTEN

The first point may eliminate the need to change default port, since it seems you wanted to change it in order to avoid the permission error.

On OS X ensure system's httpd is off when trying to start your own webserver, it's set with System Preferences -> Sharing -> Web Sharing checkbutton.