FreeCache -- Requirements

To run FreeCache you need

• a big pipe to the Internet (5+ Mbps) with a static IP#
• a few GB of free disk space
• a Unix-like operating system, such as Linux, FreeBSD, etc.
• a web server that supports CGIs written in Perl, such as Apache (preferably with mod_perl)
• Perl

FreeCache -- Download

Save this file as freecache.cgi into your cgi-bin directory. (That means rename freecache.txt to freecache.cgi.)

FreeCache -- Installation

• Install Apache, make sure it runs.
  Note: We ran into difficulites on some Apache 2.x installation, specifically on RedHat Linux 8.0 and 9.0. The symptoms are a high load (25+) and resulting unreponsiveness. We haven't found the cause for this yet (we suspect a perl library), but we recommend downgrading to Apache 1.3.x.
• Install and LoadModule mod_perl.
• Optionally, and only if you already run mod_rewrite on the same (virtual) server, add the following lines to your httpd.conf:
  RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}%{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^/freecache.cgi(.*) /cgi-bin/freecache.cgi$1 [NS,L]

• Install Perl, and the following perl modules: HTTP, LWP, Digest, POSIX. Example: perl -MCPAN -e 'install HTTP'
• Download freecache.cgi into your cgi-bin directory.
• Create one or more directories for freecache files, e.g. /var/freecache. Having mutiple cache directories only makes sense if they are on different partitions or drives.
• Edit the User Configuration section freecache.cgi:
  • Correct the path to perl if necessary: #!/usr/bin/perl
  • Change the freecache admin password.
  • Change the webmaster's e-mail address. We will use this address only to contact if there is a problem with your installation and to inform you about major new versions that you should upgrade to.
  • Change the file system path of the cache directories.
  • Change the cache directories' maximum sizes.
  • Optionally, change the logging level.
  • Optionally, restrict the range of IP addresses you prefer to serve.
• Start or stop freecache.cgi with http://your.site/path/freecache.cgi
  Please check if the displayed IP# is routable (not 127.0.0.1 or 192.168.x.x etc.), and if the hostname is a Fully Qualified Domain Name (not localhost.localdomain). You need a static, routable IP# for your freecache.cgi to work. If you don't have a Fully Qualified Domain Name, use the IP# instead.

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What is FreeCache?

Overview

FreeCache Status

Software: beta
Status
Detailed Status
Remove Content

FAQs

Why FreeCache?
Why not Squid or mod_proxy?
Why not BitTorrent?
What files are being served via FreeCache?

How to help

Run a freecache.cgi on your network
Note: As a user you DO NOT need to install freecache.cgi!

Contributors

Alexey Fedosov
Brad Tofel
Brewster Kahle
Christopher Brooks
Hunter Hagewood
Jad DeFanti
Jon Aizen
Niall O'Driscoll
Ralf Muehlen