As we have seen, writing modules, while not exactly easy, is certainly doable for an average C programmer. Lighttpd goes out of its way to make its plugin API powerful and simple to use. But before writing a plugin, we should ask ourselves a few questions:
Is the solution from outside of Lighttpd sensible?
Does the Lighttpd core or a standard module do the job?
Can I write a
mod_magnetscript to solve my problem?Which standard module is the easiest to extend to solve the problem?
Only if we answer the first three questions with "no", we should consider writing a module. The fourth question gives us a hint if we should extend another module that solves a similar problem (be sure to read the license in COPYING first) or start from mod_skeleton.c, which is supplied with the Lighttpd source. Alternatively, feel free to use any of the implementations given in this chapter as a starting point. Oh, and if the result is a useful plugin, think about giving it back to the Lighttpd community. Thanks...