diff --git a/build.pl b/build.pl
index f8f4a594e..843f068f0 100755
--- a/build.pl
+++ b/build.pl
@@ -578,6 +578,7 @@ TARGET: lib/go/camli/misc/httprange
 TARGET: lib/go/camli/misc/gpgagent
 TARGET: lib/go/camli/misc/pinentry
 TARGET: lib/go/camli/misc/resize
+TARGET: lib/go/camli/misc/vfs
 TARGET: lib/go/camli/mysqlindexer
 TARGET: lib/go/camli/netutil
 TARGET: lib/go/camli/osutil
diff --git a/lib/go/camli/misc/fileembed/fileembed.go b/lib/go/camli/misc/fileembed/fileembed.go
index ef676701d..3bab7dbaf 100644
--- a/lib/go/camli/misc/fileembed/fileembed.go
+++ b/lib/go/camli/misc/fileembed/fileembed.go
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ import (
 	"path/filepath"
 	"sync"
 	"syscall"
+
+	"camli/misc/vfs"
 )
 
 var binaryModTime = statBinaryModTime()
@@ -34,14 +36,6 @@ type Files struct {
 	file map[string]string
 }
 
-type File interface {
-	Close() os.Error
-	Stat() (*os.FileInfo, os.Error)
-	Readdir(count int) ([]os.FileInfo, os.Error)
-	Read([]byte) (int, os.Error)
-	Seek(offset int64, whence int) (int64, os.Error)
-}
-
 // Add adds a file to the file set.
 func (f *Files) Add(filename, body string) {
 	f.lk.Lock()
@@ -52,7 +46,7 @@ func (f *Files) Add(filename, body string) {
 	f.file[filename] = body
 }
 
-func (f *Files) Open(filename string) (File, os.Error) {
+func (f *Files) Open(filename string) (vfs.File, os.Error) {
 	if e := f.OverrideEnv; e != "" && os.Getenv(e) != "" {
 		return os.Open(filepath.Join(os.Getenv(e), filename))
 	}
diff --git a/lib/go/camli/misc/vfs/servefile.go b/lib/go/camli/misc/vfs/servefile.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..42b9843ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/go/camli/misc/vfs/servefile.go
@@ -0,0 +1,293 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2011 Google Inc.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+// vfs is a temporary copy of src/pkg/http/fs.go until http gets ServeFileFromFS
+package vfs
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"os"
+	"http"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"mime"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+	"time"
+	"utf8"
+)
+
+// The FileSystem interface represents the virtual filesystem subset
+// used by ServeFileFromFs to serve files.
+type FileSystem interface {
+	Open(name string) (File, os.Error)
+}
+
+// The File interface is the subset of *os.File methods needed
+// by ServeFileFromFs and the FileSystem interface.
+type File interface {
+	Close() os.Error
+	Stat() (*os.FileInfo, os.Error)
+	Readdir(count int) ([]os.FileInfo, os.Error)
+	Read([]byte) (int, os.Error)
+	Seek(offset int64, whence int) (int64, os.Error)
+}
+
+type osFileSystem struct{}
+
+func (osFileSystem) Open(name string) (File, os.Error) {
+	return os.Open(name)
+}
+
+func dirList(w http.ResponseWriter, f File) {
+	fmt.Fprintf(w, "<pre>\n")
+	for {
+		dirs, err := f.Readdir(100)
+		if err != nil || len(dirs) == 0 {
+			break
+		}
+		for _, d := range dirs {
+			name := d.Name
+			if d.IsDirectory() {
+				name += "/"
+			}
+			// TODO htmlescape
+			fmt.Fprintf(w, "<a href=\"%s\">%s</a>\n", name, name)
+		}
+	}
+	fmt.Fprintf(w, "</pre>\n")
+}
+
+func serveFile(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, name string, fs FileSystem, redirect bool) {
+	const indexPage = "/index.html"
+
+	// redirect .../index.html to .../
+	if strings.HasSuffix(r.URL.Path, indexPage) {
+		http.Redirect(w, r, r.URL.Path[0:len(r.URL.Path)-len(indexPage)+1], http.StatusMovedPermanently)
+		return
+	}
+
+	f, err := fs.Open(name)
+	if err != nil {
+		// TODO expose actual error?
+		http.NotFound(w, r)
+		return
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+
+	d, err1 := f.Stat()
+	if err1 != nil {
+		// TODO expose actual error?
+		http.NotFound(w, r)
+		return
+	}
+
+	if redirect {
+		// redirect to canonical path: / at end of directory url
+		// r.URL.Path always begins with /
+		url := r.URL.Path
+		if d.IsDirectory() {
+			if url[len(url)-1] != '/' {
+				http.Redirect(w, r, url+"/", http.StatusMovedPermanently)
+				return
+			}
+		} else {
+			if url[len(url)-1] == '/' {
+				http.Redirect(w, r, url[0:len(url)-1], http.StatusMovedPermanently)
+				return
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	if t, _ := time.Parse(http.TimeFormat, r.Header.Get("If-Modified-Since")); t != nil && d.Mtime_ns/1e9 <= t.Seconds() {
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusNotModified)
+		return
+	}
+	w.Header().Set("Last-Modified", time.SecondsToUTC(d.Mtime_ns/1e9).Format(http.TimeFormat))
+
+	// use contents of index.html for directory, if present
+	if d.IsDirectory() {
+		index := name + filepath.FromSlash(indexPage)
+		ff, err := fs.Open(index)
+		if err == nil {
+			defer ff.Close()
+			dd, err := ff.Stat()
+			if err == nil {
+				name = index
+				d = dd
+				f = ff
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	if d.IsDirectory() {
+		dirList(w, f)
+		return
+	}
+
+	// serve file
+	size := d.Size
+	code := http.StatusOK
+
+	// If Content-Type isn't set, use the file's extension to find it.
+	if w.Header().Get("Content-Type") == "" {
+		ctype := mime.TypeByExtension(filepath.Ext(name))
+		if ctype == "" {
+			// read a chunk to decide between utf-8 text and binary
+			var buf [1024]byte
+			n, _ := io.ReadFull(f, buf[:])
+			b := buf[:n]
+			if isText(b) {
+				ctype = "text/plain; charset=utf-8"
+			} else {
+				// generic binary
+				ctype = "application/octet-stream"
+			}
+			f.Seek(0, os.SEEK_SET) // rewind to output whole file
+		}
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", ctype)
+	}
+
+	// handle Content-Range header.
+	// TODO(adg): handle multiple ranges
+	ranges, err := parseRange(r.Header.Get("Range"), size)
+	if err == nil && len(ranges) > 1 {
+		err = os.ErrorString("multiple ranges not supported")
+	}
+	if err != nil {
+		http.Error(w, err.String(), http.StatusRequestedRangeNotSatisfiable)
+		return
+	}
+	if len(ranges) == 1 {
+		ra := ranges[0]
+		if _, err := f.Seek(ra.start, os.SEEK_SET); err != nil {
+			http.Error(w, err.String(), http.StatusRequestedRangeNotSatisfiable)
+			return
+		}
+		size = ra.length
+		code = http.StatusPartialContent
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Range", fmt.Sprintf("bytes %d-%d/%d", ra.start, ra.start+ra.length-1, d.Size))
+	}
+
+	w.Header().Set("Accept-Ranges", "bytes")
+	if w.Header().Get("Content-Encoding") == "" {
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Length", strconv.Itoa64(size))
+	}
+
+	w.WriteHeader(code)
+
+	if r.Method != "HEAD" {
+		io.Copyn(w, f, size)
+	}
+}
+
+// Heuristic: b is text if it is valid UTF-8 and doesn't
+// contain any unprintable ASCII or Unicode characters.
+func isText(b []byte) bool {
+	for len(b) > 0 && utf8.FullRune(b) {
+		rune, size := utf8.DecodeRune(b)
+		if size == 1 && rune == utf8.RuneError {
+			// decoding error
+			return false
+		}
+		if 0x7F <= rune && rune <= 0x9F {
+			return false
+		}
+		if rune < ' ' {
+			switch rune {
+			case '\n', '\r', '\t':
+				// okay
+			default:
+				// binary garbage
+				return false
+			}
+		}
+		b = b[size:]
+	}
+	return true
+}
+
+// httpRange specifies the byte range to be sent to the client.
+type httpRange struct {
+	start, length int64
+}
+
+// parseRange parses a Range header string as per RFC 2616.
+func parseRange(s string, size int64) ([]httpRange, os.Error) {
+	if s == "" {
+		return nil, nil // header not present
+	}
+	const b = "bytes="
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(s, b) {
+		return nil, os.NewError("invalid range")
+	}
+	var ranges []httpRange
+	for _, ra := range strings.Split(s[len(b):], ",", -1) {
+		i := strings.Index(ra, "-")
+		if i < 0 {
+			return nil, os.NewError("invalid range")
+		}
+		start, end := ra[:i], ra[i+1:]
+		var r httpRange
+		if start == "" {
+			// If no start is specified, end specifies the
+			// range start relative to the end of the file.
+			i, err := strconv.Atoi64(end)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, os.NewError("invalid range")
+			}
+			if i > size {
+				i = size
+			}
+			r.start = size - i
+			r.length = size - r.start
+		} else {
+			i, err := strconv.Atoi64(start)
+			if err != nil || i > size || i < 0 {
+				return nil, os.NewError("invalid range")
+			}
+			r.start = i
+			if end == "" {
+				// If no end is specified, range extends to end of the file.
+				r.length = size - r.start
+			} else {
+				i, err := strconv.Atoi64(end)
+				if err != nil || r.start > i {
+					return nil, os.NewError("invalid range")
+				}
+				if i >= size {
+					i = size - 1
+				}
+				r.length = i - r.start + 1
+			}
+		}
+		ranges = append(ranges, r)
+	}
+	return ranges, nil
+}
+
+// ServeFile replies to the request with the contents of the named file or directory.
+func ServeFile(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, name string) {
+	serveFile(w, r, name, osFileSystem{}, false)
+}
+
+// ServeFileFromFs replies to the request with the contents of the
+// named file or directory, served out of the provided FileSystem
+// interface.
+func ServeFileFromFS(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, fs FileSystem, name string) {
+	serveFile(w, r, name, fs, false)
+}
+
diff --git a/server/go/camlistored/ui.go b/server/go/camlistored/ui.go
index 9347036c6..f6dec29cf 100644
--- a/server/go/camlistored/ui.go
+++ b/server/go/camlistored/ui.go
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ import (
 	"camli/httputil"
 	"camli/jsonconfig"
 	"camli/misc/resize"
+	"camli/misc/vfs" // TODO: ditch this once pkg http gets it
 	"camli/schema"
 	uistatic "camlistore.org/server/uistatic"
 )
@@ -195,7 +196,7 @@ func (ui *UIHandler) ServeHTTP(rw http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 				return
 			}
 		}
-		http.ServeFile(rw, req, filepath.Join(ui.FilesDir, file))
+		vfs.ServeFileFromFS(rw, req, uiFiles, file)
 	}
 }