Steps

  1. create lighttpd directory in $HOME
    mkdir -p ~/lighttpd/{html,conf.d,passwd} && cd ~/lighttpd
  2. create index.html
    echo Lighttpd is running > html/index.html
  3. copy from lighttpd.conf
    nano lighttpd.conf
  4. copy from mimetype.conf
    nano conf.d/mimetype.conf
  5. check the conf file is ok
    lighttpd -tt -f $HOME/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf
  6. copy from lighttpd.service
    nano lighttpd.service
  7. start lighttpd service
    mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user
cp ~/lighttpd/lighttpd.service ~/.config/systemd/user/
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now lighttpd

lighttpd.conf

var.basedir          = env.HOME + "/lighttpd"
server.document-root = var.basedir + "/html"
index-file.names     = ( "index.html" )
server.username      = "nobody"
server.groupname     = "nogroup"
server.bind          = "127.0.0.1"
server.port          = 1080
server.modules += ( "mod_auth", "mod_authn_file", "mod_proxy" )
include var.basedir + "/conf.d/*.conf"

mimetype.conf

mimetype.use-xattr        = "disable"
mimetype.assign           = (
  ".pdf"          =>      "application/pdf",
  ".sig"          =>      "application/pgp-signature",
  ".torrent"      =>      "application/x-bittorrent",
  ".gz"           =>      "application/x-gzip",
  ".tar.gz"       =>      "application/x-tgz",
  ".tgz"          =>      "application/x-tgz",
  ".tar"          =>      "application/x-tar",
  ".zip"          =>      "application/zip",
  ".mp3"          =>      "audio/mpeg",
  ".ogg"          =>      "application/ogg",
  ".wav"          =>      "audio/x-wav",
  ".gif"          =>      "image/gif",
  ".jpg"          =>      "image/jpeg",
  ".jpeg"         =>      "image/jpeg",
  ".png"          =>      "image/png",
  ".css"          =>      "text/css; charset=utf-8",
  ".html"         =>      "text/html",
  ".htm"          =>      "text/html",
  ".js"           =>      "text/javascript",
  ".asc"          =>      "text/plain; charset=utf-8",
  ".c"            =>      "text/plain; charset=utf-8",
  ".cpp"          =>      "text/plain; charset=utf-8",
  ".log"          =>      "text/plain; charset=utf-8",
  ".conf"         =>      "text/plain; charset=utf-8",
  ".text"         =>      "text/plain; charset=utf-8",
  ".txt"          =>      "text/plain; charset=utf-8",
  ".xml"          =>      "text/xml",
  ".mpeg"         =>      "video/mpeg",
  ".mpg"          =>      "video/mpeg",
  ".mov"          =>      "video/quicktime",
  ".qt"           =>      "video/quicktime",
  ".avi"          =>      "video/x-msvideo",
  ".asf"          =>      "video/x-ms-asf",
  ".asx"          =>      "video/x-ms-asf",
  ".wmv"          =>      "video/x-ms-wmv",
  ".bz2"          =>      "application/x-bzip",
  ".tbz"          =>      "application/x-bzip-compressed-tar",
  ".tar.bz2"      =>      "application/x-bzip-compressed-tar",
  ""              =>      "application/octet-stream",
)

lighttpd.service

[Unit]
Description=lighttpd
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target

[Service]
Restart=always
ExecStart=lighttpd -D -f %h/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target