.. _sockets-http-get:

Socket HTTP GET Example
#######################

Overview
********

The sockets/http_get sample application for Zephyr implements a simple
HTTP GET client using a BSD Sockets compatible API. The purpose of this
sample is to show how it's possible to develop a sockets application
portable to both POSIX and Zephyr. As such, it is kept minimal and
supports only IPv4.

The source code for this sample application can be found at:
:file:`samples/net/sockets/http_get`.

Requirements
************

- :ref:`networking_with_qemu`
- or, a board with hardware networking
- NAT/routing should be set up to allow connections to the Internet
- DNS server should be available on the host to resolve domain names

Building and Running
********************

Build the Zephyr version of the application like this:

.. code-block:: console

    $ cd $ZEPHYR_BASE/samples/net/sockets/http_get
    $ make pristine
    $ make BOARD=<board_to_use>

``board_to_use`` defaults to ``qemu_x86``. In this case, you can run the
application in QEMU using ``make run``. If you used another BOARD, you
will need to consult its documentation for application deployment
instructions. You can read about Zephyr support for specific boards in
the documentation at :ref:`boards`.

After the sample starts, it issues HTTP GET request to "google.com:80"
and dumps the response. You can edit the source code to issue a request
to any other site on the Internet (or on the local network, in which
case no NAT/routing setup is needed).

Running application on POSIX Host
=================================

The same application source code can be built for a POSIX system, e.g.
Linux. (Note: if you look at the source, you will see that the code is
the same except the header files are different for Zephyr vs POSIX.)

To build for a host POSIX OS:

.. code-block:: console

    $ make -f Makefile.posix

To run:

.. code-block:: console

    $ ./http_get

As can be seen, the behavior of the application is the same as the Zephyr
version.