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<H2 align=left><A name=what>What is it?</H2>
ABYSS aims to be a
fully HTTP/1.1 compliant web server. Its main design goals are speed, low resource
usage and portability. ABYSS works on most UNIX based systems and on Win32
systems (Win95/98/2000/NT).

<H2 align=left><A name=who>Who wrote it?</H2>
ABYSS was written from scratch by Moez Mahfoudh. For more information about licensing, <a href="license.html">click here</a>.<br>
Copyright &copy; 2000 <A href="mailto:mmoez@bigfoot.com">Moez Mahfoudh</A>. All rights reserved.

<H2 align=left><A name=why>Why bother writing another HTTP server?</H2>

HTTP servers used nowadays are too complex and/or system dependant.
This can be explained by two facts:
<ul>
<li>They are based on old software (CERN httpd or NCSA httpd) which was written in the beginning of the 90's with no portability or modularity in mind.
<li>They are getting bigger from version to version as they need to support evolution of standards.
</ul>
Started as a personal challenge, ABYSS project tries to avoid the mistakes found in the design of other servers. ABYSS characteristics/features are:
<ul>
<li>Built from scratch
<li>Modular
<li>Customizable: you can build a version which includes only the features you need.
<li>Highly portable: it is written in ANSI C.
<li>Low memory use.
<li>Low system load.
<li>Tiny: on Linux, the executable size is about 35kB.
<li>Fast: On stable developement releases, it is 70% as fast as Apache. When using threads, this rate is 130%.
</ul>

<H2 align=left><A name=help>How to help?</H2>
ABYSS seems to interest you ? That's very good. You can help by:
<ul>
<li>Using it.
<li>Testing it.
<li>Submitting bug reports.
<li>Speaking about it to people you know.
</ul>

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Copyright &copy; 2000 <A href="mailto:mmoez@bigfoot.com">Moez Mahfoudh</A>. All rights reserved |  Hosted by <A href="http://sourceforge.net"> <IMG src="http://sourceforge.net/sflogo.php?group_id=3921" width="88" height="31" border="0" alt="SourceForge Logo" align="absmiddle"></A> | Last Modified: Feb 22, 2001
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