diff -r cd822205d37b -r c565bc1279a3 Lib/http/server.py
--- a/Lib/http/server.py	Sun Dec 04 15:43:57 2016 +0200
+++ b/Lib/http/server.py	Sun Dec 04 16:07:46 2016 +0100
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@
 import urllib.parse
 import copy
 import argparse
+from functools import partial
 
 from http import HTTPStatus
 
@@ -634,6 +635,10 @@
 
     server_version = "SimpleHTTP/" + __version__
 
+    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        self.directory = kwargs.pop('directory', os.getcwd())
+        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+
     def do_GET(self):
         """Serve a GET request."""
         f = self.send_head()
@@ -776,7 +781,7 @@
         path = posixpath.normpath(path)
         words = path.split('/')
         words = filter(None, words)
-        path = os.getcwd()
+        path = self.directory
         for word in words:
             if os.path.dirname(word) or word in (os.curdir, os.pardir):
                 # Ignore components that are not a simple file/directory name
@@ -1206,9 +1211,13 @@
                         default=8000, type=int,
                         nargs='?',
                         help='Specify alternate port [default: 8000]')
+    parser.add_argument('--directory', '-d', default=os.getcwd(),
+                        help='Specify alternate directory '
+                        '[default: current directory]')
     args = parser.parse_args()
     if args.cgi:
         handler_class = CGIHTTPRequestHandler
     else:
-        handler_class = SimpleHTTPRequestHandler
+        handler_class = partial(SimpleHTTPRequestHandler,
+                                directory=args.directory)
     test(HandlerClass=handler_class, port=args.port, bind=args.bind)