Creating a simple node.js static server

Question

var express = require('express');
var app = express();
app.use('/', express.static('./'));
app.listen(80);

The error msg I receive in the cli via "node server.js" is: events.js:160 throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event ^

Error: listen EACCES 0.0.0.0:80 at Object.exports._errnoException (util.js:1018:11) at exports._exceptionWithHostPort (util.js:1041:20) at Server._listen2 (net.js:1245:19) at listen (net.js:1294:10) at Server.listen (net.js:1390:5) at EventEmitter.listen (G:\angular\node_modules\express\lib\application.js:618:24) at Object. (G:\angular\server.js:4:5) at Module._compile (module.js:570:32) at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:579:10) at Module.load (module.js:487:32)

Any ideas why a simple bit of code would generate errors? I got the code from an older angularjs book I'm trying to learn from. Changes with node or express possibly?

Answer 1

On Unix, all ports below 1024 are so called Privileged Ports. Only root or other specific system users can start services here.

When you're programming with a regular user (as you should), it's customary to start your dev server on ports above 1024. For web servers it's common to use 8080 or 3000.

The error message Error: listen EACCES 0.0.0.0:80 also gave you a hint. EACCESS means that you do not have the rights to open a server on port 80. Only the root user does for running production code.

Also one piece of advice: AngularJS has changed a lot in the last years. So if you want to learn it, don't use an older book. Much of what you'd learn is probably obsolete and done differently now.

Answer 2

Error: listen EACCES means you don't have permission to listen on that port. Try different port.

And static content should be served like this

app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/'));

__dirname represent current directory.

Answer 3

This code is working for me, please try it:

var express = require('express');

var app = express.createServer();

app.get('/', express.static(__dirname + 'your path'));

app.listen(80);