A Swift Web Framework and HTTP Server

Summary

Kitura is a web framework and web server that is created for web services written in Swift.

Table of Contents

• Summary
• Features
• Swift version
• Installation (Docker development environment)
• Installation (Vagrant development environment)
• Installation (OS X)
• Installation (Linux, Apt-based)
• Developing Kitura applications
• Kitura Wiki
• Developing Kitura
• License

Features:

• URL routing (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE)
• URL parameters
• Static file serving
• JSON parsing
• Pluggable middleware

Swift version

The latest version of Kitura works with the DEVELOPMENT-SNAPSHOT-2016-03-01-a version of the Swift binaries. You can download this version of the Swift binaries by following this link.

Installation (Docker development environment)

1. Install Docker on your development system and start a Docker session/terminal.

2. From the Docker session, pull down the kitura-ubuntu image from Docker Hub:

docker pull ibmcom/kitura-ubuntu:latest

3. Create a Docker container using the kitura-ubuntu image you just downloaded:

docker run -i -t ibmcom/kitura-ubuntu:latest /bin/bash

4. From within the Docker container, execute the clone_build_test_kitura.sh script to build Kitura and execute the test cases:

/root/clone_build_test_kitura.sh

The last output line from executing the clone_build_test_kitura.sh script should be similar to:

>> Finished execution of tests for Kitura (see above for results).

5. You can now run the KituraSample executable inside the Docker container:

/root/start_kitura_sample.sh

You should see a message that says "Listening on port 8090".

Installation (Vagrant development environment)

1. Install VirtualBox.

2. Install Vagrant.

3. From the root of the Kitura folder containing the vagrantfile, create and configure a guest machine:

vagrant up

4. SSH into the Vagrant machine:

vagrant ssh

5. From the Vagrant shell, run the sample program:

Kitura/.build/debug/KituraSample. You should see a message that says "Listening on port 8090".

6. As needed for development, edit the vagrantfile to setup Synced Folders to share files between your host and guest machine.

Installation (OS X)

1. Install Homebrew (if you don't already have it installed):

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

2. Install the necessary dependencies:

brew install http-parser curl hiredis

3. Download and install the supported Swift compiler.

After installing it, make sure you update your PATH environment variable as described in the installation instructions (e.g. export PATH=/Library/Developer/Toolchains/swift-latest.xctoolchain/usr/bin:$PATH)

4. Now you are ready to develop your first Kitura App. Check Kitura Sample or see Developing Kitura applications.

Installation (Linux, Apt-based)

1. Install the following system linux libraries:

sudo apt-get install autoconf libtool libkqueue-dev libkqueue0 libdispatch-dev libdispatch0 libhttp-parser-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libhiredis-dev libbsd-dev

2. Install the supported Swift compiler for Linux.

Follow the instructions provided on that page. After installing it (i.e. uncompressing the tar file), make sure you update your PATH environment variable so that it includes the extracted tools: export PATH=/<path to uncompress tar contents>/usr/bin:$PATH. To update the PATH env variable, you can update your .bashrc file.

3. Clone, build and install the libdispatch library. The complete instructions for building and installing this library are here, though, all you need to do is just this git clone https://github.com/apple/swift-corelibs-libdispatch.git && cd swift-corelibs-libdispatch && git submodule init && git submodule update && sh ./autogen.sh && ./configure --with-swift-toolchain=<path-to-swift>/usr --prefix=<path-to-swift>/usr && make && make install

4. Now you are ready to develop your first Kitura App. Check Kitura Sample or see Developing Kitura applications.

Developing Kitura applications

Let's develop our first Kitura Web Application written in Swift!

1. First we create a new project directory

mkdir myFirstProject

2. Next we initialize this project as a new Swift package project

cd myFirstProject
swift build --init

Now your directory structure under myFirstProject should look like this:

  myFirstProject
  ├── Package.swift
  ├── Sources
  │   └── main.swift
  └── Tests
      └── empty
  

Note: For more information on the Swift Package Manager, go here

3. Now we add Kitura as a dependency for your project (Package.swift):

import PackageDescription

let package = Package(
    name: "myFirstProject",
    dependencies: [
        .Package(url: "https://github.com/IBM-Swift/Kitura.git", majorVersion: 0, minor: 5)
    ])

4. Import the modules in your code (Sources/main.swift):

import Kitura
import KituraNet
import KituraSys

5. Add a router and a path:

let router = Router()

router.get("/") {
request, response, next in
    response.send("Hello, World!")
    next()
}

6. Create and start a HTTPServer:

let server = HttpServer.listen(8090, delegate: router)
Server.run()

7. Sources/main.swift file should now look like this:

import Kitura
import KituraNet
import KituraSys

let router = Router()

router.get("/") {
request, response, next in
    response.send("Hello, World!")
    next()
}

let server = HttpServer.listen(8090, delegate: router)
Server.run()

8. Compile your application:

• Mac OS X: swift build -Xcc -fblocks -Xswiftc -I/usr/local/include -Xlinker -L/usr/local/lib
• Linux: swift build -Xcc -fblocks

Or copy Makefile and build scripts to your project directory and run make build. You may want to customize this Makefile and use it for building, testing and running your application. For example, you can clean your build directory, refetch all the dependencies, build, test and run your application by running make clean refetch test run.

9. Now run your new web application:

.build/debug/myFirstProject

10. Open your browser at http://localhost:8090

Kitura Wiki

Feel free to visit our Wiki for our roadmap and some tutorials.

Developing Kitura

1. Clone this repository, git clone https://github.com/IBM-Swift/Kitura
2. Build and run tests make test

Notes

• Homebrew by default installs libraries to /usr/local, if yours is different, change the path to find curl and http-parser libraries, in Kitura-CI/build/Makefile:

  SWIFTC_FLAGS = -Xswiftc -I/usr/local/include
  LINKER_FLAGS = -Xlinker -L/usr/local/lib

You can find info on contributing to Kitura in our contributing guidelines.

License

This library is licensed under Apache 2.0. Full license text is available in LICENSE.