Is there a way to serve files via symbolic links

lwsjs / local-web-server

A lean, modular web server for rapid full-stack development.

MIT License

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Is there a way to serve files via symbolic links #112

Closed happybeing closed 5 years ago

happybeing commented 5 years ago

I've a simple website that load JS scripts, and during development of some of those scripts (libraries held elsewhere) I want to use a symbolic link from the website folder to the library 'dist' file.

When I do this, ws gives a 404 error rather than following the symbolic link and loading the script (e.g. when referenced using <script> in index.html).

Is there a way to do this?

I'm on Ubuntu Linux, using ws --version 2.5.6

75lb commented 5 years ago

on macOS, symlinking works fine. For example, if i run the commands below then the Documents folder will be accessible from my web server, as expected.

$ ln -s ~/Documents
$ ws

Please post a reproduction case which fails consistently for you, I'll test it in Linux.

happybeing commented 5 years ago

I'm not linking to a folder so maybe the issue is how the JavaScript file reference in a script tag is loaded.

If you put index.html and a symbolic link to a JS file (which is elsewhere on the file system) in the same folder, and reference the symlink inside a <script src='myscript.js'> tag, ws gives a 404 for the JS file.

Hope that's clear enough! Thanks for your help.

75lb commented 5 years ago

I can't reproduce this.

I have a test harness with this folder structure:

.
├── ws-symlink
│   ├── index.html
│   ├── index.js -> ../ws-symlink-js/index.js
│   └── package-lock.json
└── ws-symlink-js
    └── index.js

index.html looks like this:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <title>test</title>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</head>
<body></body>
</html>

index.js looks like this:

console.log('OK')

I run ws in the ws-symlink folder and launch my browser - the index.js file is loaded via the symlink from a separate folder and OK is written to the console log.

Tested on both macOS and Linux using Firefox, the latest node and latest local-web-server.

happybeing commented 5 years ago

Thanks, I hope I haven't wasted your time. I don't have time to look again right now but will get back to you when I can.

happybeing commented 5 years ago

Small update. I don't know if this is an issue with ws or not.

It isn't the symlink that is the problem but the file. So sorry for misleading. I can't get the attached file to load using <script src="js/safenetwork.js"></script> whereas other files in the js folder do load. I can even load safenetwork.js if I create it with garbage (cd js && echo garbage > safenetwork.js).

Does ws do any checks on content before serving a JS file? I'm a bit stumped, but have attached the offending file in case you can try loading it and see if you get a 404.

safenetworkjs.zip

75lb commented 5 years ago

I can't reproduce your issue. I created this folder structure:

.
├── index.html
└── safenetworkjs.js

Where index.html looks like this:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <title>temp</title>
  <script src="safenetworkjs.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<p>temp</p>
</body>
</html>

I ran ws in the folder and opened the index page - everything worked correctly, the js file was loaded and evaluated.

75lb commented 5 years ago

The code you pasted refers to the wrong filename:

<script src="js/safenetwork.js"></script>

It should be:

<script src="js/safenetworkjs.js"></script>

happybeing commented 5 years ago

Yes. Oh dear, BIG apology for this. I couldn't see the discrepancy. Thanks very much for your patience and sharp eyes.

Now works, including with symlinks, because I had the wrong filename. Nothing to do with ws.

75lb commented 5 years ago

no probs, these things happen.. let me know if you find anything else!