diff --git a/scripts/ax_init_standard_project.m4 b/scripts/ax_init_standard_project.m4
index e063051..7f97e5f 100644
--- a/scripts/ax_init_standard_project.m4
+++ b/scripts/ax_init_standard_project.m4
@@ -500,6 +500,12 @@ maintainer-clean-html-targets:
 EOF
 ])
 
+# use this in configure.ac to support HTML data for webservers
+AC_DEFUN([AX_BUILD_HTML_NPM], [
+  AC_CONFIG_FILES([html/package.json])
+  AX_BUILD_HTML
+])
+
 # use this in configure.ac to support C++ libraries
 AC_DEFUN([AX_USE_LIBTOOL], [
   # libtool versioning
diff --git a/scripts/bootstrap.sh b/scripts/bootstrap.sh
index a547611..639f218 100755
--- a/scripts/bootstrap.sh
+++ b/scripts/bootstrap.sh
@@ -148,7 +148,8 @@ GENERATED FILES
     * src/version.hxx - if you enabled AX_USE_CXX
     * src/version.cxx - if you enabled AX_USE_CXX
     * etc/makefile.am - if you enable AX_USE_ETC
-    * html/makefile.am - if you enabled AX_BUILD_HTML
+    * html/makefile.am - if you enabled AX_BUILD_HTML or AX_BUILD_HTML_NPM
+    * html/package.json.in - if you enabled AX_BUILD_HTML_NPM
     * scripts/makefile.am - if you enabled AX_USE_SCRIPTS
     * nodejs/makefile.am - if you add AX_USE_NODEJS
     * nodejs/${DEFAULT_PROJECT_NAME}.js - if you add AX_USE_NODEJS
@@ -223,7 +224,7 @@ FILE DEPENDENCIES
   configuration a dependent, i.e.:
 
     * test/makefile.am depends on AX_USE_LIBTOOL
-    * html/makefile.am depends on AX_BUILD_HTML
+    * html/makefile.am depends on AX_BUILD_HTML or AX_BUILD_HTML_NPM
     * doc/doxyfile.in depends on AX_BUILD_EXAMPLES
     * debian/control.in depends on AX_USE_DOXYGEN, AX_USE_PERLDOC,
       AX_USE_CPPUNIT AX_CXX_QT, AX_CHECK_QT, AX_REQUIRE_QT, AX_USE_LIBTOOL
@@ -583,6 +584,7 @@ AX_INIT_STANDARD_PROJECT
 #AX_BUILD_TEST
 #AX_BUILD_EXAMPLES
 #AX_BUILD_HTML
+#AX_BUILD_HTML_NPM
 
 # qt features, uncomment, what you need:
 #AX_CHECK_QT([QT], [QtCore QtGui QtNetwork], [QtWidgets])
@@ -1081,7 +1083,9 @@ to --condition AX_USE_NODEJS nodejs/etc/systemd/system/${PACKAGE_NAME}.service <
 Description=$(head -1 README)
 
 [Service]
-ExecStart=/usr/bin/nodejs /usr/share/${PACKAGE_NAME}/nodejs/${PACKAGE_NAME} > /var/log/${PACKAGE_NAME}.log
+ExecStart=/usr/bin/nodejs /usr/share/${PACKAGE_NAME}/nodejs/${PACKAGE_NAME}
+StandardOutput=journal
+StandardError=journal
 Restart=on-abort
 
 [Install]
@@ -1280,11 +1284,59 @@ LDADD = -l${PACKAGE_NAME#lib}
 
 MAINTAINERCLEANFILES = makefile.in
 EOF
-to --condition AX_BUILD_HTML html/makefile.am <<EOF
-${HEADER}EXTRA_DIST = \${www_DATA}
+to --condition AX_BUILD_HTML_NPM html/package.json.in <<EOF
+{
+  "name": "@PACKAGE_NAME@",
+  "version": "@PACKAGE_VERSION@",
+  "private": true,
+  "dependencies": {
+  },
+  "description": "@DESCRIPTION@",
+  "devDependencies": {},
+  "scripts": {
+    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
+  },
+  "author": "@AUTHOR@",
+  "license": "@LICENSE@",
+  "path": {
+      "prefix": "@PREFIX@",
+      "sysconf": "@SYSCONFDIR@",
+      "pkgdata": "@PKGDATADIR@",
+      "localstate": "@LOCALSTATEDIR@",
+      "log": "@LOCALSTATEDIR@/log/@PACKAGE_NAME@.log",
+      "config":  "@SYSCONFDIR@/@PACKAGE_NAME@.json",
+      "nodejs": "@PKGDATADIR@/nodejs"
+  }
+}
+EOF
+to --condition 'AX_BUILD_HTML|AX_BUILD_HTML_NPM' html/makefile.am <<EOF
+${HEADER}EXTRA_DIST = $(testtag AX_BUILD_HTML_NPM && echo "package.json.in")
 
 wwwdir = \${pkgdatadir}/html
-www_DATA = 
+www_DATA = $(testtag AX_BUILD_HTML_NPM && echo "package.json")
+dist_www_DATA = 
+
+$(if testtag AX_BUILD_HTML_NPM; then
+cat<<EOF2
+
+all: node_modules
+
+node_modules: package.json.in
+	HOME=. npm install
+
+clean-local:
+	-rm -r node_modules .npm
+
+install-data-hook:
+	test -d \$(DESTDIR)\${wwwdir} || mkdir -p \$(DESTDIR)\${wwwdir}
+	chmod -R u+w \$(DESTDIR)\${wwwdir}
+	cp -r . \$(DESTDIR)\${wwwdir}
+
+uninstall-local:
+	-chmod -R u+w \$(DESTDIR)\${wwwdir}
+	-rm -rf \$(DESTDIR)\${wwwdir}
+EOF2
+fi)
 
 MAINTAINERCLEANFILES = makefile.in
 EOF