Running HFS HTTP File Server on Ubuntu 22.04: Non‑Daemon and Daemon Setup
This guide walks through installing HFS on Ubuntu 22.04, creating a shared HTTP directory, configuring the server both as a regular process and as a systemd daemon, and accessing the shared folder via a web browser.
HFS is a lightweight HTTP service tool; versions before 3.0 provide a Windows installer, while version 3.0 and later offer Linux and macOS packages. It is well‑suited for LAN file sharing or hosting package repositories.
Running HFS without daemon (Ubuntu 22.04)
1: Create the HTTP root directory: mkdir -vp /home/budgie/mirrorsHTTP 2: Extract the hfs-linux.zip package to a custom directory /usr/bin/hfsFolder.
3: Create a symbolic link for the binary: ln -s /usr/bin/hfsFolder/hfs /usr/bin/ 4: Run hfs, stay in the session, then type help and config port 8011.
5: Open http://localhost:8090/~/admin/ in a browser and add the shared folder path /home/budgie/mirrorsHTTP.
6: View the current configuration file at $HOME/.hfs/config.yaml.
7: Access http://192.168.136.136:8090/ in a browser to see the shared folder.
Running HFS as a daemon (Ubuntu 22.04)
1: Create the HTTP root directory: mkdir -vp /home/budgie/mirrorsHTTP 2: Extract the hfs-linux.zip package to /usr/bin/hfsFolder.
3: Create the same symbolic link for the binary as above.
4: Run hfs, stay in the session, then type help and config port 8011.
5: Add the shared folder via http://localhost:8090/~/admin/ (same path as before).
6: View the configuration file at $HOME/.hfs/config.yaml.
7: Extract the Node.js binary package to /usr/bin/hfsFolder/:
tar -xf /home/budgie/Downloads/node-v20.9.0-linux-x64.tar.xz -C /usr/bin/hfsFolder/8: Symlink node and npm to /usr/bin/:
ln -s /usr/bin/hfsFolder/node-v20.9.0-linux-x64/bin/node /usr/bin/ln -s /usr/bin/hfsFolder/node-v20.9.0-linux-x64/bin/npm /usr/bin/9: Verify versions with node --version (ensure global commands are available, otherwise expose them via /etc/profile).
10: Run
/usr/bin/hfsFolder/node-v20.9.0-linux-x64/bin/npx -y hfs@latestto check for errors.
11: Create a systemd service file /etc/systemd/system/hfs.service (see image).
12: Reload systemd, enable and start the service:
systemctl daemon-reload && systemctl enable hfs && systemctl start hfs && systemctl status hfs13: Open http://192.168.136.136:8090/ in a browser to see the shared folder.
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