diff --git a/tests/httpserver.pl b/tests/httpserver.pl
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..0fd0bc374
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/httpserver.pl
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+#!/usr/bin/perl
+use Socket;
+use Carp;
+
+sub spawn;  # forward declaration
+sub logmsg { #print "$0 $$: @_ at ", scalar localtime, "\n"
+ }
+
+my $port = shift || $ARGV[0];
+my $proto = getprotobyname('tcp');
+$port = $1 if $port =~ /(\d+)/; # untaint port number
+
+socket(Server, PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, $proto)|| die "socket: $!";
+    setsockopt(Server, SOL_SOCKET, SO_REUSEADDR,
+               pack("l", 1)) || die "setsockopt: $!";
+bind(Server, sockaddr_in($port, INADDR_ANY))|| die "bind: $!";
+listen(Server,SOMAXCONN) || die "listen: $!";
+
+logmsg "server started on port $port";
+
+open(PID, ">log/server.pid");
+print PID $$;
+close(PID);
+
+my $waitedpid = 0;
+my $paddr;
+
+sub REAPER {
+    $waitedpid = wait;
+    $SIG{CHLD} = \&REAPER;  # loathe sysV
+    logmsg "reaped $waitedpid" . ($? ? " with exit $?" : '');
+}
+
+$SIG{CHLD} = \&REAPER;
+
+for ( $waitedpid = 0;
+      ($paddr = accept(Client,Server)) || $waitedpid;
+        $waitedpid = 0, close Client)
+{
+    next if $waitedpid and not $paddr;
+    my($port,$iaddr) = sockaddr_in($paddr);
+    my $name = gethostbyaddr($iaddr,AF_INET);
+
+    logmsg "connection from $name [", inet_ntoa($iaddr), "] at port $port";
+
+    # this code is forked and run
+    spawn sub {
+        while(<STDIN>) {
+            if($_ =~ /(GET|POST|HEAD) (.*) HTTP\/1.(\d)/) {
+                $request=$1;
+                $path=$2;
+                $ver=$3;
+            }
+            elsif($_ =~ /^Content-Length: (\d*)/) {
+                $cl=$1;
+            }
+            # print "RCV: $_";
+
+            push @headers, $_;
+
+            if($left > 0) {
+                $left -= length($_);
+            }
+
+            if(($_ eq "\r\n") or ($_ eq "")) {
+                if($request eq "POST") {
+                    $left=$cl;
+                }
+                else {
+                    $left = -1; # force abort
+                }
+            }
+            if($left < 0) {
+                last;
+            }
+        }
+
+        #
+        # we always start the path with a number, this is the
+        # test number that this server will use to know what
+        # contents to pass back to the client
+        #
+        if($path =~ /^\/(\d*)/) {
+            $testnum=$1;
+        }
+        else {
+            print STDERR "UKNOWN TEST CASE\n";
+            exit;
+        }
+        open(INPUT, ">log/server.input");
+        for(@headers) {
+            print INPUT $_;
+        }
+        close(INPUT);
+
+        # send a reply to the client
+        open(DATA, "<data/reply$testnum.txt");
+        while(<DATA>) {
+            print $_;
+        }
+        close(DATA);
+
+     #   print "Hello there, $name, it's now ", scalar localtime, "\r\n";
+    };
+}
+
+
+sub spawn {
+    my $coderef = shift;
+
+
+    unless (@_ == 0 && $coderef && ref($coderef) eq 'CODE') {
+        confess "usage: spawn CODEREF";
+    }
+
+
+    my $pid;
+    if (!defined($pid = fork)) {
+        logmsg "cannot fork: $!";
+        return;
+    } elsif ($pid) {
+        logmsg "begat $pid";
+        return; # I'm the parent
+    }
+    # else I'm the child -- go spawn
+
+
+    open(STDIN,  "<&Client")   || die "can't dup client to stdin";
+    open(STDOUT, ">&Client")   || die "can't dup client to stdout";
+    ## open(STDERR, ">&STDOUT") || die "can't dup stdout to stderr";
+    exit &$coderef();
+}