Bug#667564: ITP: servefile -- Serve files from shell via a small HTTP server
Hi,
On 05.04.2012 08:48, Aron Xu wrote:
Again I would like to ask how useful it is and whether there are
potential security problems like other HTTP daemons. I'm not saying
that I'm against packaging it, but just want bring the common concerns
to your attention.
servefile should not be used as a daemon. It is thought for
temporary/transitional file transfer. The regular usecase is that you
want to send a file to somebody (mostly within your local network)
without having to exchange credentials for FTP/SSH/..., search a
USB-Stick big enough or setup up a full blown webserver, which might
require you to be root for listening on port 80 or to edit some config
files.
Basically there's another option already in Python, the
SimpleHTTPServer, which you can run in the directory containing files
you intend to share, all done.
servefile serves (as a default) just one file. All other HTTP requests
are redirected to that file, so you only have to give your ip and the
port servefile is listening on to other people. A directory listing for
a single file would make it unnecessary complicated for usage with wget.
Also you don't have to tell people which file to download and have no
problems with spelling errors in file names when delivering the URL per
voice.
With SimpleHTTPServer's listing you'd have to make sure that the file
you want to share is in a directory together only with files you'd have
no problem with sharing them. If you are not in this situation it would
require you to create a directory and symlink that file into it.
In addition as far as I know there is no "serve this directory with
SimpleHTTPServer" program. If I wanted to use this I'd have to write a
(very small) python script. This wouldn't be an option for anybody not
familar with python.
I hope that gave you some insight in why I would like servefile in Debian.
Greetings,
Sebastian Lohff
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