diff --git a/tests/test-webserver.sh b/tests/test-webserver.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..b5815e70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test-webserver.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+dir=$1
+test_tmpdir=$(pwd)
+
+(cd ${dir} && env PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1 setsid python -m SimpleHTTPServer 0 >${test_tmpdir}/httpd-output) &
+child_pid=$!
+for x in $(seq 50); do
+    sed -e 's,Serving HTTP on 0.0.0.0 port \([0-9]*\) \.\.\.,\1,' < ${test_tmpdir}/httpd-output > ${test_tmpdir}/httpd-port
+    if ! cmp ${test_tmpdir}/httpd-output ${test_tmpdir}/httpd-port 1>/dev/null; then
+        break
+    fi
+    sleep 0.1
+done
+echo port is in ${test_tmpdir}/httpd-port
+port=$(cat ${test_tmpdir}/httpd-port)
+echo "http://127.0.0.1:${port}" > ${test_tmpdir}/httpd-address
+echo "$child_pid" > ${test_tmpdir}/httpd-pid