Is it possible to have SimpleHTTPServer serve files from two different directories?

Question

If I do python -m SimpleHTTPServer it serves the files in the current directory.

My directory structure looks like this:

/protected/public
/protected/private
/test

I want to start the server in my /test directory and I want it to serve files in the /test directory. But I want all requests to the server starting with '/public' to be pulled from the /protected/public directory.

e.g.a request to http://localhost:8000/public/index.html would serve the file at /protected/public/index.html

Is this possible with the built in server or will I have to write a custom one?

Answer 1

I do not believe SimpleHTTPServer has this feature, however if you use a symbolic link inside of /test that points to /protected/public, that should effectively do the same thing.

Answer 2

I think it is absolutely possible to do that. You can start the server inside /test directory and override translate_path method of SimpleHTTPRequestHandler as follows:

import BaseHTTPServer
import SimpleHTTPServer
server_address = ("", 8888)
PUBLIC_RESOURCE_PREFIX = '/public'
PUBLIC_DIRECTORY = '/path/to/protected/public'

class MyRequestHandler(SimpleHTTPServer.SimpleHTTPRequestHandler):
    def translate_path(self, path):
        if self.path.startswith(PUBLIC_RESOURCE_PREFIX):
            if self.path == PUBLIC_RESOURCE_PREFIX or self.path == PUBLIC_RESOURCE_PREFIX + '/':
                return PUBLIC_DIRECTORY + '/index.html'
            else:
                return PUBLIC_DIRECTORY + path[len(PUBLIC_RESOURCE_PREFIX):]
        else:
            return SimpleHTTPServer.SimpleHTTPRequestHandler.translate_path(self, path)

httpd = BaseHTTPServer.HTTPServer(server_address, MyRequestHandler)
httpd.serve_forever()

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

I think I have found the answer to this, basically it involves changing the current working directory, starting the server and then returning back to your original working directory.

This is how I achieved it, I've commented out two sets of options for you, as the solution for me was just moving to a folder within my app directory and then back up one level to the original app directory. But, you might want to go to an entire other directory in your file system and then return someplace else or not at all.

#Setup file server
import SimpleHTTPServer
import SocketServer
import os

PORT = 5002

#  -- OPTION 1 --
#os.chdir(os.path.join(os.path.abspath(os.curdir),'PATH_TO_FOLDER_IN_APP_DIR'))
#  -- OPTION 2 --
#os.chdir('PATH_TO_ROOT_DIRECTORY')

Handler = SimpleHTTPServer.SimpleHTTPRequestHandler

httpd = SocketServer.TCPServer(("", PORT), Handler)

print "serving at port", PORT
httpd.serve_forever()

#  -- OPTION 1 --
#os.chdir(os.path.abspath('..'))
#  -- OPTION 2 --
#os.chdir('PATH_TO_ORIGINAL_WORKING_DIR')

Let me know how it works out!