Simple web server to render Markdown from a folder

md-server.go

// md-server is a simple web server to render Markdown files through HTTP
// this was just a quick "hack" so I could show some docs I was working on to a friend
// since the lack of styles and links, this ended up being completely unuseful
// if you want a serious Markdown renderer server, take a look at: http://www.mkdocs.org/
package main

import (
	"flag"
	"fmt"
	"github.com/russross/blackfriday"
	"io/ioutil"
	"net/http"
	"os"
	"path/filepath"
)

var ROOT string

func main() {
	flag.StringVar(&ROOT, "root", "", "Root folder where Markdown templates lives")
	flag.Parse()

	if ROOT == "" {
		ROOT, _ = os.Getwd()
	} else {
		ROOT, _ = filepath.Abs(ROOT)
	}

	fmt.Println("Listening on :8001")
	fmt.Println("root:", ROOT)
	http.HandleFunc("/", renderMd)
	http.ListenAndServe(":8001", nil)
}

func renderMd(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	filename := r.URL.Path
	if filename == "/" {
		filename = "index.md"
	}

	markdown, err := ioutil.ReadFile(filepath.Join(ROOT, filename))
	if err != nil {
		var status int
		if os.IsNotExist(err) {
			status = 404
		} else {
			status = 500
		}
		http.Error(w, err.Error(), status)
		return
	}

	fmt.Fprintf(w, "%s", blackfriday.MarkdownCommon(markdown))
}