HTTP over Unix sockets

(HTTP over Unix Domain sockets, and practically all other sockets supported by junixsocket, such as AF_TIPC, as well)

Motivation

Serving Web content doesn't always mean that the serving machine has a working TCP/IP stack, the required network permissions, or simply the need to expose its endpoints externally.

Specifically, serving content via UNIX domain sockets can significantly reduce the exposure of a web server to a variety of security issues.

In other cases, such as with TIPC sockets, you can build a fault-tolerant cluster of HTTP servers with little to no system setup, thanks to the powers of the TIPC protocol.

Libraries known to work

Jetty (HTTP Server and Client)

Custom AFSocketServerConnector and AFSocketClientConnector classes are provided.

See junixsocket-jetty for details.

NanoHTTPD (HTTP Server)

You can simply create AFServerSocket instances with a custom ServerSocketFactory.

See NanoHttpdServerDemo for an example.

OkHttp (HTTP Client)

Build your OkHttpClient with a AFSocketFactory.FixedAddressSocketFactory.

See OkHttpClientDemo for an example with AF_UNIX sockets.

See OkHttpClientTIPCDemo for an example with AF_TIPC sockets.

Libraries known to not work

JEP 321 HTTP Client (java.net.HTTP)

Specifying an AFSocketAddress will compile but fail to establish connections.

Unfortunately, there is currently no way to specify custom Socket factories, and the java.net code heavily depends on implementation-specifics.