ziphttpd: serve Zip files over HTTP

This runs a small web server that serves the contents of a Zip file. URLs mapping to directories within the Zip files are mapped to the index.html file if the directory contains it, otherwise it generates (very bare) listing of the directory.

Install

pip install ziphttpd

Example uses

ziphttpd archive.zip

Serves the contents of archive.zip over an automatically-selected ephemeral port, over the loopback interface (localhost).

ziphttpd -p 18888 archive.zip

Serves the file over the loopback interface, at port 18888.

ziphttpd -b 192.168.1.45 -p 18888 archive.zip

Serves the file over one's a network-exposed interface associated to one's IP address, port 18888.

python -m ziphttpd -B -b "" -p 18888 archive.zip

Serves over all of the host's network interfaces, port 18888, and skips starting a the host's web browser to http://0.0.0.0:18888/ (path / at the server's location). Notice how one can use python -m ziphttpd as an alternative to short-form entry point.

Command line arguments

Command line schema:

ziphttpd [options] ZIPFILE

In the wild...

Interactive standalone data maps generated using DataMapPlot

The DataMapPlot Python package, made by the Tutte Institute, enables the production of standalone interactive viewers for data embedded into vector spaces. These small web apps can be saved to Zip files for sharing. When downloaded to your own computer, use ziphttpd to view them. (The following example is slightly contrived, but it does demonstrate the composition satisfyingly.)

curl -L -o datamapplot_examples.zip https://github.com/lmcinnes/datamapplot_examples/archive/refs/heads/master.zip
ziphttpd datamapplot_examples.zip

Then browse through datamapplot_examples and arXiv to enjoy an interactive map of some 2.6 million papers made available on ArXiV between 1996 and January 2025.