NAME

       cockpit-ws - Cockpit web service

SYNOPSIS

       cockpit-ws [--help] [--port PORT] [--address ADDRESS] [--no-tls] [--for-tls-proxy]
                  [--local-ssh] [--local-session BRIDGE]

DESCRIPTION

       The cockpit-ws program is the web service component used for communication between the
       browser application and various configuration tools and services like cockpit-bridge(1).

       Users or administrators should never need to start this program as it automatically
       started by systemd(1) on bootup, through cockpit-tls(8).

TRANSPORT SECURITY

       cockpit-ws is normally run behind the cockpit-tls TLS terminating proxy, and only deals
       with unencrypted HTTP by itself. But for backwards compatibility it can also handle TLS
       connections by itself when being run directly. For details how to configure certificates,
       please refer to the cockpit-tls(8) documentation.

TIMEOUT

       When started via systemd(1) then cockpit-ws will exit after 90 seconds if nobody logs in,
       or after the last user is disconnected.

OPTIONS

       --help
           Show help options.

       --port PORT
           Serve HTTP requests PORT instead of port 9090. Usually Cockpit is started on demand by
           systemd socket activation, and this option has no effect. Update the ListenStream
           directive cockpit.socket file in the usual systemd manner.

       --address ADDRESS
           Bind to address ADDRESS instead of binding to all available addresses. Usually Cockpit
           is started on demand by systemd socket activation, and this option has no effect. In
           that case, update the ListenStream directive in the cockpit.socket file in the usual
           systemd manner.

       --no-tls
           Don't use TLS.

       --for-tls-proxy
           Tell cockpit-ws that it is running behind a local reverse proxy that does the TLS
           termination. Then Cockpit puts https:// URLs into the default Content-Security-Policy,
           and accepts only https:// origins, instead of http: ones by default. However, if
           Origins is set in the cockpit.conf(5) configuration file, it will override this
           default.

       --proxy-tls-redirect
           Enable redirection of unencrypted http requests to https (TLS) in --no-tls mode. Use
           this when running cockpit-ws behind a reverse http proxy that also supports https, but
           does no redirection from http to https by itself.

       --local-ssh
           Normally cockpit-ws uses cockpit-session and PAM to authenticate the user and start a
           user session. With this option enabled, it will instead authenticate via SSH at
           127.0.0.1 port 22.

       --local-session BRIDGE
           Skip all authentication and cockpit-session, and launch the cockpit-bridge specified
           in BRIDGE in the local session. If the BRIDGE is specified as - then expect an already
           running bridge that is connected to stdin and stdout of this cockpit-ws process. This
           allows the web server to run as any unprivileged user in an already running session.

           This mode implies --no-tls, thus you need to use http:// URLs with this.

               Warning
               If you use this, you have to isolate the opened TCP port somehow (for example in a
               network namespace), otherwise all other users (or even remote machines if the port
               is not just listening on localhost) can access the session!

ENVIRONMENT

       The cockpit-ws process will use the XDG_CONFIG_DIRS environment variable from the XDG
       basedir spec[1] to find its cockpit.conf(5) configuration file.

       In addition the XDG_DATA_DIRS environment variable from the XDG basedir spec[1] can be
       used to override the location to serve static files from. These are the files that are
       served to a non-logged in user.

BUGS

       Please send bug reports to either the distribution bug tracker or the upstream bug
       tracker[2].

AUTHOR

       Cockpit has been written by many contributors[3].

SEE ALSO

       cockpit-tls(8) , cockpit.conf(5) , systemd(1)

NOTES

        1. XDG basedir spec
           https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html

        2. upstream bug tracker
           https://github.com/cockpit-project/cockpit/issues/new

        3. contributors
           https://github.com/cockpit-project/cockpit/