AsmBB Web Forum Engine

AsmBB is a high-performance, lightweight web forum engine written entirely in x86 assembly language using FlatAssembler (FASM). It is designed to run efficiently on low-resource hardware (like cheap VPS or shared hosting) while handling high traffic volumes without latency.

Key features include:

• High Performance: Minimal resource footprint due to assembly implementation.
• Security: Minimal dependencies and aggressive testing reduce the attack surface. It also supports encrypted databases to protect forum data during server breaches.
• Storage: Uses SQLite with the SQLeet extension as the backend storage.
• Interface: Communicates with web servers via the FastCGI interface.

To run AsmBB, your environment must meet the following requirements:

• Architecture: x86 Linux server (supports both 32-bit and 64-bit).
• Dependencies: No specialized preinstalled libraries are required.
• Web Server: Must support the FastCGI interface. Tested compatible servers include:
  • Nginx
  • Apache
  • Lighttpd
  • Hiawatha
  • RWASA
• Database: SQLite with the SQLeet extension.

Block quotes

Defined using the ;quote keyword followed by an optional label. Block quotes can contain other formatting elements and can be nested.

Syntax:

;quote LABEL
QUOTE TEXT

Spoilers

Spoilers hide content that can be expanded by the reader. They can contain nested elements.

Syntax:

;spoiler SPOILER TITLE
SPOILER CONTENT

;quote QUOTE LABEL
QUOTE TEXT

;spoiler SPOILER TITLE
SPOILER CONTENT

Tables use tags similar to HTML: [table], [tr] (row), [th] (header cell), and [td] (data cell).

[table]
  [tr]
    [th]Header 1[/th]
    [th]Header 2[/th]
  [/tr]
  [tr]
    [td]Cell 1[/td]
    [td]Cell 2[/td]
  [/tr]
[/table]

AsmBB supports two types of linking:

Label-type links

Define a label and its URL at the start of a line (or anywhere), then reference the label in your text using square brackets.

Definition: [Label Name] URL Usage: Visit [Label Name] for details. Custom Text: Visit the [Label Name][Custom Text].

Inline links

Specify the URL directly in the text using square brackets. You can optionally provide custom text in a second set of brackets.

Usage: Visit [https://example.com] for details. Custom Text: Visit the [https://example.com][custom text].

[AsmBB site] https://board.asm32.info/
Visit [AsmBB site] for details.
Visit the [AsmBB site][fastest forum in the world].

Visit [https://board.asm32.info] for details.
Visit the [https://board.asm32.info][fastest forum in the world].

You can format text by enclosing it with specific symbols:

• Bold: *Bold text*
• Italic: /Italic text/
• Underlined: _Underlined text_
• -Strikethrough-: -Strikedthrough-
• Monospaced: `Monospaced inline text`

Formats can be combined, for example: _*/Combined formats/*_

`*Bold text*`
`/Italic text/`
`_Underlined text_`
`-Strikedthrough-`
` `Monospaced inline text` `
`_*/The formats can be combined/*_`

Links

Format links using the [url=URL]Link text[/url] tag.

Images

Format images using the [img=ALT_TEXT]IMAGE_URL[/img] tag. Note that only block-type images are supported.

[url=https://board.asm32.info]AsmBB demo forum[/url]
[img=Alt Text]https://example.com/image.png[/img]

Tables are started with the ;table keyword. Rows are separated by ;------ (preceded by an empty line). Every paragraph within a row becomes a separate cell.

• Headers: To create a header row, start the paragraph in the cell with the # symbol.
• Content: Cells can contain inline formatting, images, and links.

Syntax:

;table
# Header 1
# Header 2

;-----------------
Cell 1,1

Cell 1,2
;-----------------
Cell 2,1
;-----------------

;table
# Header 0,0

# Header 0,1

# Header 0,2

;-----------------
Cell with [https://board.asm32.info][link] 1,0

Cell with inline /*formatting*/ 1,1

Cell 1,2

;-----------------
Cell with inline image: [?;-)] 2,1

Cell with block image: [!;-)] 2,2

;-----------------
;-----------------

Create headers by enclosing text with tags from [h1] to [h6].

[h1]Header level 1[/h1]
[h2]Header level 2[/h2]
[h3]Header level 3[/h3]
[h4]Header level 4[/h4]
[h5]Header level 5[/h5]
[h6]Header level 6[/h6]

Apply basic text styling within paragraphs using the following tags. Note that all tags are enclosed in square brackets [TAG]CONTENT[/TAG].

[b]Bold text[/b]
[i]Italic text[/i]
[u]Underlined text[/u]
[s]Strikedthrough[/s]
[c]Monospaced inline text[/c]
[size=22px]Different size of the text[/size]
[color=red]Different color of the text[/color]

Headers are created by starting a line with the # symbol, followed by whitespace and the header text. Each header must be followed by an empty line. The number of # symbols determines the header level (1 to 6).

Example levels:

• # H1 header
• ## H2 header
• ### H3 header
• #### H4 header
• ##### H5 header
• ###### H6 header

Source code blocks are created using the ;begin keyword. You can optionally specify a language for syntax highlighting. If you use nohighlight, the block will not be highlighted.

Syntax:

;begin LANG
  Code here
;end

;begin javascript
  SomeSourceCode();
;end

;begin nohighlight
  Plain text code
;end