pakserve

HTTP server written in Go to serve downloads to Quake 2 clients directly from game server data. By using the same logic as Quake 2 server to build the search path, HTTP clients get the same content as regular clients that download via UDP.

Downloads can be served directly from PAK and ZIP (.pkz) archives, possibly in compressed format, or from regular files on disk. Access control in form of white lists is supported to prevent sensitive data (e.g., config files) from being downloaded.

Server is just a single binary without dependencies and is very easy to set up. Running pakserve is highly recommended for everyone hosting a public Quake 2 server.

Configuration

Server accepts configuration in YAML format. Path to configuration file must be specified as the first (and only) command line argument. Example configuration file contents is reproduced below. Only SearchPaths parameter is mandatory.

Listen: :8080

ContentType: application/x-quake2-data

RefererCheck: ^quake2://

PakBlackList: []

DirWhiteList:
  - ^(players|models|sprites|sound|maps|textures|env|pics)/
  - ^[\w\-]*[.]filelist$
  - ^[\w\-]+[.](pak|pkz)$

SearchPaths:
  - Match: ^/(baseq2/|openffa/|opentdm/)?
    Search:
      - /home/user/quake2/baseq2

  - Match: ^/ctf/
    Search:
      - /home/user/quake2/ctf
      - /home/user/quake2/baseq2

LogLevel: 2
LogTimeStamps: true

Parameters

Listen

IP address to listen on for connections in [host]:port format. Default is :8080. Can be set to empty string if ListenTLS is non-empty to disable plain text connections.

ListenTLS

IP address to listen on for TLS connections [host]:port format. Default is empty string (don't listen for TLS connections).

CertFile

Path to server certificate file if ListenTLS is enabled. Default is empty string (not set).

KeyFile

Path to server private key if ListenTLS is enabled. Default is empty string (not set).

ContentType

Reply with this content type header. Default is application/octet-stream.

RefererCheck

Regular expression to check HTTP referer and return 403 if it doesn't match. Default is empty string (allow any referer).

PakBlackList

Array of regular expressions that describe quake paths that are not searched in packfiles. Default is empty array (allow everything).

DirWhiteList

Array of regular expressions that describe quake paths that are searched in directories. Default is empty array (forbid everything).

SearchPaths

Maps regular expressions to arrays of search paths. Each regular expression is matched with initial part of the full path specified in request URL. Matched part is then removed from the request path to obtain quake path. Resulting quake path is then passed to whitelist checks and is searched in packfiles or directories.

Each regular expression must match beginning of the string and must match the slash character at the end (because quake path can't begin with a slash).

Note that incoming paths are always converted to lower case before processing. Thus, names of all files on disk must be converted to lower case if file system is case sensitive. Case of filenames inside packfiles doesn't matter (searching in packfiles is case insensitive). Similarly, all regular expressions should match lower case strings only.

If multiple regular expressions match the request path, the longest match wins.

Care should be taken when serving downloads with game variable unset on the Quake 2 server. Some clients properly use baseq2 as gamedir, which results in request paths like this:

/baseq2/maps/q2dm1.bsp
/baseq2.filelist

However, some clients use an empty string in place of gamedir, which results in paths like this:

/maps/q2dm1.bsp
/.filelist

Using catch-all regular expression such as ^/(baseq2/)? is recommended in this case. By this convention, all top level filelists should be placed in baseq2.

LogLevel

If ≥ 1, log search paths. If ≥ 2, log requests on stderr. By default only errors are logged.

LogTimeStamps

If true, prefix log lines with time stamps. Default false.

Signals

Upon receiving SIGHUP server will rescan all search paths specified in config file. This can be used for adding or removing pack files without restarting the server.

Notes

• Modifying packfiles while server is running will cause bad things to happen.

• Packfiles can be added/removed while server is running, provided SIGHUP is sent afterwards to rescan the search paths. Regular files on disk can be added/removed anytime.

• Server does not dynamically compress content. Data must be pre-compressed and stored in .pkz for this to work. It is highly recommended that existing .pak files are converted to .pkz. This can be done using bundled pakutil utility.

• If HTTP client doesn't support compression, server will dynamically decompress content from .pkz.