Launch the browser with a redirect file

This avoids putting the authentication token into a command-line
argument to launch the browser, where it's visible to other users.
Filesystem permissions should ensure that only the user who started the
notebook can use this route to authenticate.
Thanks to Dr Owain Kenway for suggesting this technique.

Author: takluyver

notebook/notebookapp.py

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 import signal
 import socket
 import sys
+import tempfile
 import threading
 import time
 import warnings
@@ -107,7 +108,7 @@
 from notebook._sysinfo import get_sys_info
 
 from ._tz import utcnow, utcfromtimestamp
-from .utils import url_path_join, check_pid, url_escape
+from .utils import url_path_join, check_pid, url_escape, urljoin, pathname2url
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Module globals
@@ -1184,6 +1185,13 @@ def _update_mathjax_config(self, change):
     def _default_info_file(self):
         info_file = "nbserver-%s.json" % os.getpid()
         return os.path.join(self.runtime_dir, info_file)
+
+    browser_open_file = Unicode()
+
+    @default('browser_open_file')
+    def _default_browser_open_file(self):
+        basename = "nbserver-%s-open.html" % os.getpid()
+        return os.path.join(self.runtime_dir, basename)
 
     pylab = Unicode('disabled', config=True,
         help=_("""
@@ -1697,6 +1705,67 @@ def remove_server_info_file(self):
             if e.errno != errno.ENOENT:
                 raise
 
+    def write_browser_open_file(self):
+        """Write an nbserver-<pid>-open.html file
+
+        This can be used to open the notebook in a browser
+        """
+        # default_url contains base_url, but so does connection_url
+        open_url = self.default_url[len(self.base_url):]
+
+        with open(self.browser_open_file, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+            self._write_browser_open_file(open_url, f)
+
+    def _write_browser_open_file(self, url, fh):
+        if self.token:
+            url = url_concat(url, {'token': self.one_time_token})
+        url = url_path_join(self.connection_url, url)
+
+        jinja2_env = self.web_app.settings['jinja2_env']
+        template = jinja2_env.get_template('browser-open.html')
+        fh.write(template.render(open_url=url))
+
+    def remove_browser_open_file(self):
+        """Remove the nbserver-<pid>-open.html file created for this server.
+
+        Ignores the error raised when the file has already been removed.
+        """
+        try:
+            os.unlink(self.browser_open_file)
+        except OSError as e:
+            if e.errno != errno.ENOENT:
+                raise
+
+    def launch_browser(self):
+        try:
+            browser = webbrowser.get(self.browser or None)
+        except webbrowser.Error as e:
+            self.log.warning(_('No web browser found: %s.') % e)
+            browser = None
+
+        if not browser:
+            return
+
+        if self.file_to_run:
+            if not os.path.exists(self.file_to_run):
+                self.log.critical(_("%s does not exist") % self.file_to_run)
+                self.exit(1)
+
+            relpath = os.path.relpath(self.file_to_run, self.notebook_dir)
+            uri = url_escape(url_path_join('notebooks', *relpath.split(os.sep)))
+
+            # Write a temporary file to open in the browser
+            fd, open_file = tempfile.mkstemp(suffix='.html')
+            with open(fd, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as fh:
+                self._write_browser_open_file(uri, fh)
+        else:
+            open_file = self.browser_open_file
+
+        b = lambda: browser.open(
+            urljoin('file:', pathname2url(open_file)),
+            new=self.webbrowser_open_new)
+        threading.Thread(target=b).start()
+
     def start(self):
         """ Start the Notebook server app, after initialization
         
@@ -1726,30 +1795,10 @@ def start(self):
                  "resources section at https://jupyter.org/community.html."))
 
         self.write_server_info_file()
+        self.write_browser_open_file()
 
         if self.open_browser or self.file_to_run:
-            try:
-                browser = webbrowser.get(self.browser or None)
-            except webbrowser.Error as e:
-                self.log.warning(_('No web browser found: %s.') % e)
-                browser = None
-            
-            if self.file_to_run:
-                if not os.path.exists(self.file_to_run):
-                    self.log.critical(_("%s does not exist") % self.file_to_run)
-                    self.exit(1)
-
-                relpath = os.path.relpath(self.file_to_run, self.notebook_dir)
-                uri = url_escape(url_path_join('notebooks', *relpath.split(os.sep)))
-            else:
-                # default_url contains base_url, but so does connection_url
-                uri = self.default_url[len(self.base_url):]
-            if self.one_time_token:
-                uri = url_concat(uri, {'token': self.one_time_token})
-            if browser:
-                b = lambda : browser.open(url_path_join(self.connection_url, uri),
-                                          new=self.webbrowser_open_new)
-                threading.Thread(target=b).start()
+            self.launch_browser()
 
         if self.token and self._token_generated:
             # log full URL with generated token, so there's a copy/pasteable link
@@ -1773,6 +1822,7 @@ def start(self):
             info(_("Interrupted..."))
         finally:
             self.remove_server_info_file()
+            self.remove_browser_open_file()
             self.cleanup_kernels()
 
     def stop(self):

notebook/templates/browser-open.html

@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+{# This template is not served, but written as a file to open in the browser,
+   passing the token without putting it in a command-line argument. #}
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html lang="en">
+<head>
+    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="1;url={{ open_url }}" />
+    <title>Opening Jupyter Notebook</title>
+</head>
+<body>
+
+<p>
+    This page should redirect you to Jupyter Notebook. If it doesn't,
+    <a href="{{ open_url }}">click here to go to Jupyter</a>.
+</p>
+
+</body>
+</html>

notebook/utils.py

@@ -13,10 +13,11 @@
 from distutils.version import LooseVersion
 
 try:
-    from urllib.parse import quote, unquote, urlparse
+    from urllib.parse import quote, unquote, urlparse, urljoin
+    from urllib.request import pathname2url
 except ImportError:
-    from urllib import quote, unquote
-    from urlparse import urlparse
+    from urllib import quote, unquote, pathname2url
+    from urlparse import urlparse, urljoin
 
 from ipython_genutils import py3compat