> As for running a local server, VS Code devcontainers are the solution. Open your workspace, it runs the devcontainer, and you have a server up without extra hassle
it's not easy to install VS Code, let alone use it. VS Codium (and VS Code) are Electron apps, and it is difficult to sandbox them, as Electron (and Chromium as well) use suid helper - a priviledged binary that launches as root, and I won't allow suid binaries in a sandbox. Also, it requires GPU access for fast rendering, and it is difficult to provide in a safe way or switch to software rendering (I couldn't figure it out). Electron apps are a pain to install.
One could use a virtual machine, but it would use more resources.
Obviously, that's not VS Code's issue, it is a problem with Linux which doesn't come with a good sandbox.
It is much easier to type python -m http.server to launch a server, but you need to open a terminal and navigate to a directory first, that takes lot of time I would rather spend on something different (like figuring out how to work around issues with suid binary in Electron apps). And this looks like a hacky workaround, launching a web server only to gain more privileges in a browser.
> but you need to open a terminal and navigate to a directory first, that takes lot of time
It does?
It does, given that I don't always remember the path to the app. Also, on my Linux system the terminal doesn't remember windows and tabs and I have to open them all manually after reboot (I could ask ChatGPT to write a script for that but it would be easier if I hadn't to).
Maybe you can associate html files with or use open with to pass them into a script that calls python -m http.server and creates and opens a url to the file via the python server in the browser.