title: What is the purpose of the server.php file in Laravel 4?
body: <p>In the <code>/app/</code> directory in Laravel 4, there is a file called <code>server.php</code>. The contents of this file look like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;?php
  
  $uri = parse_url($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], PHP_URL_PATH);
  
  $uri = urldecode($uri);
  
  $paths = require __DIR__.'/bootstrap/paths.php';
  
  $requested = $paths['public'].$uri;
  
  // This file allows us to emulate Apache's "mod_rewrite" functionality from the
  // built-in PHP web server. This provides a convenient way to test a Laravel
  // application without having installed a "real" web server software here.
  if ($uri !== '/' and file_exists($requested))
  {
      return false;
  }
  
  require_once $paths['public'].'/index.php';
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>It seems that this file is in someway used to mimic Apache's <code>mod_rewrite</code> functionality, however I cannot find anything in the <a href="http://laravel.com/docs/quick">Laravel documentation</a> that mentions it or it's use.</p>
  
  <p>I currently am trying to utilize Laravel on an IIS server that I do not manage. I do not have the ability to modify the URL rewrite module options on IIS (I will in the future), but would like to get started working with the framework now, if possible. This <code>server.php</code> file seems like it may be a stop-gap solution to do just that.</p>
  
  <p>Can anyone shed some light on the purpose of the <code>server.php</code> file and how to use/activate it if the purpose is really to emulate Apache's <code>mod_rewrite</code> functionality?</p>