Question

I am looking for a simple easy to use lightweight Web server ( linux/Ubuntu Koala ) for testing some web apps.

On Windows I used Web Savant ( which was rather easy, just enter the html directory and the bin directory and press start ) to give some people an idea of what I’m looking for.

Update:
My apologies. I didn’t realise that this was a requirement untill now.
Ideally the whole package would be one executable file, however since it is a webserver it would be understandable if there were some infrastructure created so maybe a tarball containing a executable. It would be nice if it started from the commandline and required no administrator privileges to run. Furthermore it should not require any configuration files or log files stored in any areas which are usually administrator access only.

PS This is a question about a tool for testing programs, not a question about system administration. Thus this question is appropriate for stackoverflow not serverfault.
If you insist on arguing this, then I suggest you reread the question. Still want to argue?
Keep rereading the question untill you understand it, I’ll wait. Understand it now? Good now go away.

Answer 1

If you use CGI or plain HTML pages only, the simplest would be thttpd just:

thttpd -D -C '*.cgi' -p 8080 

And go!

Lighttpd is very simple to configure as well, but requires writing a little configuration file.