How to stop BaseHTTPServer.serve_forever() in a BaseHTTPRequestHandler subclass?

I should start by saying that "I probably wouldn't do this myself, but I have in the past". The serve_forever (from SocketServer.py) method looks like this:

def serve_forever(self):
    """Handle one request at a time until doomsday."""
    while 1:
        self.handle_request()

You could replace (in subclass) while 1 with while self.should_be_running, and modify that value from a different thread. Something like:

def stop_serving_forever(self):
    """Stop handling requests"""
    self.should_be_running = 0
    # Make a fake request to the server, to really force it to stop.
    # Otherwise it will just stop on the next request.
    # (Exercise for the reader.)
    self.make_a_fake_request_to_myself()

Edit: I dug up the actual code I used at the time:

class StoppableRPCServer(SimpleXMLRPCServer.SimpleXMLRPCServer):

    stopped = False
    allow_reuse_address = True

    def __init__(self, *args, **kw):
        SimpleXMLRPCServer.SimpleXMLRPCServer.__init__(self, *args, **kw)
        self.register_function(lambda: 'OK', 'ping')

    def serve_forever(self):
        while not self.stopped:
            self.handle_request()

    def force_stop(self):
        self.server_close()
        self.stopped = True
        self.create_dummy_request()

    def create_dummy_request(self):
        server = xmlrpclib.Server('http://%s:%s' % self.server_address)
        server.ping()

In my python 2.6 installation, I can call it on the underlying TCPServer - it still there inside your HTTPServer:

TCPServer.shutdown


>>> import BaseHTTPServer
>>> h=BaseHTTPServer.HTTPServer(('',5555), BaseHTTPServer.BaseHTTPRequestHandler)
>>> h.shutdown
<bound method HTTPServer.shutdown of <BaseHTTPServer.HTTPServer instance at 0x0100D800>>
>>> 

This is a simplified version of Helgi's answer for python 3.7:

import threading
import time
from http.server import ThreadingHTTPServer, SimpleHTTPRequestHandler


class MyServer(threading.Thread):
    def run(self):
        self.server = ThreadingHTTPServer(('localhost', 8000), SimpleHTTPRequestHandler)
        self.server.serve_forever()
    def stop(self):
        self.server.shutdown()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    s = MyServer()
    s.start()
    print('thread alive:', s.is_alive())  # True
    time.sleep(2)
    s.stop()
    print('thread alive:', s.is_alive())  # False

This method I use successfully (Python 3) to stop the server from the web application itself (a web page):

import http.server
import os
import re

class PatientHTTPRequestHandler(http.server.SimpleHTTPRequestHandler):
    stop_server = False
    base_directory = "/static/"
    # A file to use as an "server stopped user information" page.
    stop_command = "/control/stop.html"
    def send_head(self):
        self.path = os.path.normpath(self.path)
        if self.path == PatientHTTPRequestHandler.stop_command and self.address_string() == "127.0.0.1":
            # I wanted that only the local machine could stop the server.
            PatientHTTPRequestHandler.stop_server = True
            # Allow the stop page to be displayed.
            return http.server.SimpleHTTPRequestHandler.send_head(self)
        if self.path.startswith(PatientHTTPRequestHandler.base_directory):
            return http.server.SimpleHTTPRequestHandler.send_head(self)
        else:
            return self.send_error(404, "Not allowed", "The path you requested is forbidden.")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    httpd = http.server.HTTPServer(("127.0.0.1", 8080), PatientHTTPRequestHandler)
    # A timeout is needed for server to check periodically for KeyboardInterrupt
    httpd.timeout = 1
    while not PatientHTTPRequestHandler.stop_server:
        httpd.handle_request()

This way, pages served via base address http://localhost:8080/static/ (example http://localhost:8080/static/styles/common.css) will be served by the default handler, an access to http://localhost:8080/control/stop.html from the server's computer will display stop.html then stop the server, any other option will be forbidden.

import http.server
import socketserver
import socket as sck
import os
import threading


class myserver:
    def __init__(self, PORT, LOCATION):
        self.thrd = threading.Thread(None, self.run)
        self.Directory = LOCATION
        self.Port = PORT
        hostname = sck.gethostname()
        ip_address = sck.gethostbyname(hostname)
        self.url = 'http://' + ip_address + ':' + str(self.Port)
        Handler = http.server.SimpleHTTPRequestHandler
        self.httpd = socketserver.TCPServer(("", PORT), Handler)
        print('Object created, use the start() method to launch the server')
    def run(self):
        print('listening on: ' + self.url )
        os.chdir(self.Directory)
        print('myserver object started')        
        print('Use the objects stop() method to stop the server')
        self.httpd.serve_forever()
        print('Quit handling')

        print('Sever stopped')
        print('Port ' + str(self.Port) + ' should be available again.')


    def stop(self):
        print('Stopping server')
        self.httpd.shutdown()
        self.httpd.server_close()
        print('Need just one more request before shutting down'


    def start(self):
        self.thrd.start()

def help():
    helpmsg = '''Create a new server-object by initialising
NewServer = webserver3.myserver(Port_number, Directory_String)
Then start it using NewServer.start() function
Stop it using NewServer.stop()'''
    print(helpmsg)

Not a experience python programmer, just wanting to share my comprehensive solution. Mostly based on snippets here and there. I usually import this script in my console and it allows me to set up multiple servers for different locations using their specific ports, sharing my content with other devices on the network.

Here's a context-flavored version for Python 3.7+ which I prefer because it cleans up automatically and you can specify the directory to serve:

from contextlib import contextmanager
from functools import partial
from http.server import SimpleHTTPRequestHandler, ThreadingHTTPServer
from threading import Thread


@contextmanager
def http_server(host: str, port: int, directory: str):
    server = ThreadingHTTPServer(
        (host, port), partial(SimpleHTTPRequestHandler, directory=directory)
    )
    server_thread = Thread(target=server.serve_forever, name="http_server")
    server_thread.start()

    try:
        yield
    finally:
        server.shutdown()
        server_thread.join()


def usage_example():
    import time

    with http_server("127.0.0.1", 8087, "."):
        # now you can use the web server
        time.sleep(100)