Use node.js (with express) as static webserver

I'm looking to use node.js with express to create a Webserver that serves static files (as opposed to using something like Apache). This is what I have so far:

var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var http = require('http');
var path = require('path');

app.configure(function() {
    app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, '/public')));
    app.use(app.router);
});

var server = http.createServer(app);

server.listen(4001);

This works in that anything placed in the public folder can be accessed via browser. I have two questions though.

  1. How do I make it so that node.js will provide a 404 error when a user tries to access a non-existent file?
  2. How would I then select my homepage?

Take a look at existing implementations like ecstatic and http-server.

you can have a homepage using a /public/index.html file you can create a 404 page by adding after app.router

app.use(function (req, res) {
  res.send(404, 'File not found.')
})

or you can use res.render or whatever you'd like.