diff --git a/mercurial/cmdutil.py b/mercurial/cmdutil.py
--- a/mercurial/cmdutil.py
+++ b/mercurial/cmdutil.py
@@ -2290,6 +2290,15 @@ def add(ui, repo, match, prefix, explici
         bad.extend(f for f in rejected if f in match.files())
     return bad
 
+def addwebdirpath(repo, serverpath, webconf):
+    webconf[serverpath] = repo.root
+    repo.ui.debug('adding %s = %s\n' % (serverpath, repo.root))
+
+    for r in repo.revs('filelog("path:.hgsub")'):
+        ctx = repo[r]
+        for subpath in ctx.substate:
+            ctx.sub(subpath).addwebdirpath(serverpath, webconf)
+
 def forget(ui, repo, match, prefix, explicitonly):
     join = lambda f: os.path.join(prefix, f)
     bad = []
diff --git a/mercurial/commands.py b/mercurial/commands.py
--- a/mercurial/commands.py
+++ b/mercurial/commands.py
@@ -4619,7 +4619,8 @@ def root(ui, repo):
     ('t', 'templates', '', _('web templates to use'), _('TEMPLATE')),
     ('', 'style', '', _('template style to use'), _('STYLE')),
     ('6', 'ipv6', None, _('use IPv6 in addition to IPv4')),
-    ('', 'certificate', '', _('SSL certificate file'), _('FILE'))],
+    ('', 'certificate', '', _('SSL certificate file'), _('FILE'))]
+     + subrepoopts,
     _('[OPTION]...'),
     optionalrepo=True)
 def serve(ui, repo, **opts):
diff --git a/mercurial/help/subrepos.txt b/mercurial/help/subrepos.txt
--- a/mercurial/help/subrepos.txt
+++ b/mercurial/help/subrepos.txt
@@ -136,6 +136,10 @@ Interaction with Mercurial Commands
     subrepository changes are available when referenced by top-level
     repositories.  Push is a no-op for Subversion subrepositories.
 
+:serve: serve does not recurse into subrepositories unless
+    -S/--subrepos is specified.  Git and Subversion subrepositories
+    are currently silently ignored.
+
 :status: status does not recurse into subrepositories unless
     -S/--subrepos is specified. Subrepository changes are displayed as
     regular Mercurial changes on the subrepository
diff --git a/mercurial/server.py b/mercurial/server.py
--- a/mercurial/server.py
+++ b/mercurial/server.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ from .i18n import _
 
 from . import (
     chgserver,
+    cmdutil,
     commandserver,
     error,
     hgweb,
@@ -130,11 +131,22 @@ def _createhgwebservice(ui, repo, opts):
         baseui = ui
     webconf = opts.get('web_conf') or opts.get('webdir_conf')
     if webconf:
+        if opts.get('subrepos'):
+            raise error.Abort(_('--web-conf cannot be used with --subrepos'))
+
         # load server settings (e.g. web.port) to "copied" ui, which allows
         # hgwebdir to reload webconf cleanly
         servui = ui.copy()
         servui.readconfig(webconf, sections=['web'])
         alluis.add(servui)
+    elif opts.get('subrepos'):
+        servui = ui
+
+        # If repo is None, hgweb.createapp() already raises a proper abort
+        # message as long as webconf is None.
+        if repo:
+            webconf = dict()
+            cmdutil.addwebdirpath(repo, "", webconf)
     else:
         servui = ui
 
diff --git a/mercurial/subrepo.py b/mercurial/subrepo.py
--- a/mercurial/subrepo.py
+++ b/mercurial/subrepo.py
@@ -444,6 +444,15 @@ class abstractsubrepo(object):
         self._ctx = ctx
         self._path = path
 
+    def addwebdirpath(self, serverpath, webconf):
+        """Add the hgwebdir entries for this subrepo, and any of its subrepos.
+
+        ``serverpath`` is the path component of the URL for this repo.
+
+        ``webconf`` is the dictionary of hgwebdir entries.
+        """
+        pass
+
     def storeclean(self, path):
         """
         returns true if the repository has not changed since it was last
@@ -651,6 +660,10 @@ class hgsubrepo(abstractsubrepo):
         self.ui.setconfig('ui', '_usedassubrepo', 'True', 'subrepo')
         self._initrepo(r, state[0], create)
 
+    @annotatesubrepoerror
+    def addwebdirpath(self, serverpath, webconf):
+        cmdutil.addwebdirpath(self._repo, subrelpath(self), webconf)
+
     def storeclean(self, path):
         with self._repo.lock():
             return self._storeclean(path)
diff --git a/tests/test-completion.t b/tests/test-completion.t
--- a/tests/test-completion.t
+++ b/tests/test-completion.t
@@ -184,6 +184,7 @@ Show the options for the "serve" command
   --repository
   --stdio
   --style
+  --subrepos
   --templates
   --time
   --traceback
@@ -194,6 +195,7 @@ Show the options for the "serve" command
   -A
   -E
   -R
+  -S
   -a
   -d
   -h
@@ -225,7 +227,7 @@ Show all commands + options
   pull: update, force, rev, bookmark, branch, ssh, remotecmd, insecure
   push: force, rev, bookmark, branch, new-branch, ssh, remotecmd, insecure
   remove: after, force, subrepos, include, exclude
-  serve: accesslog, daemon, daemon-postexec, errorlog, port, address, prefix, name, web-conf, webdir-conf, pid-file, stdio, cmdserver, templates, style, ipv6, certificate
+  serve: accesslog, daemon, daemon-postexec, errorlog, port, address, prefix, name, web-conf, webdir-conf, pid-file, stdio, cmdserver, templates, style, ipv6, certificate, subrepos
   status: all, modified, added, removed, deleted, clean, unknown, ignored, no-status, copies, print0, rev, change, include, exclude, subrepos, template
   summary: remote
   update: clean, check, merge, date, rev, tool
diff --git a/tests/test-subrepo-deep-nested-change.t b/tests/test-subrepo-deep-nested-change.t
--- a/tests/test-subrepo-deep-nested-change.t
+++ b/tests/test-subrepo-deep-nested-change.t
@@ -73,6 +73,43 @@ Preparing the 'main' repo which depends 
   adding main/main (glob)
   $ hg commit -R main -m "main import"
 
+#if serve
+
+Unfortunately, subrepos not at their nominal location cannot be cloned.  But
+they are still served from their location within the local repository.  The only
+reason why 'main' can be cloned via the filesystem is because 'sub1' and 'sub2'
+are also available as siblings of 'main'.
+
+  $ hg serve -R main --debug -S -p $HGPORT -d --pid-file=hg1.pid -E error.log -A access.log
+  adding  = $TESTTMP/main (glob)
+  adding sub1 = $TESTTMP/main/sub1 (glob)
+  adding sub1/sub2 = $TESTTMP/main/sub1/sub2 (glob)
+  listening at http://*:$HGPORT/ (bound to *:$HGPORT) (glob) (?)
+  adding  = $TESTTMP/main (glob) (?)
+  adding sub1 = $TESTTMP/main/sub1 (glob) (?)
+  adding sub1/sub2 = $TESTTMP/main/sub1/sub2 (glob) (?)
+  $ cat hg1.pid >> $DAEMON_PIDS
+
+  $ hg clone http://localhost:$HGPORT httpclone --config progress.disable=True
+  requesting all changes
+  adding changesets
+  adding manifests
+  adding file changes
+  added 1 changesets with 3 changes to 3 files
+  updating to branch default
+  abort: HTTP Error 404: Not Found
+  [255]
+
+  $ cat access.log
+  * "GET /?cmd=capabilities HTTP/1.1" 200 - (glob)
+  * "GET /?cmd=batch HTTP/1.1" 200 - * (glob)
+  * "GET /?cmd=getbundle HTTP/1.1" 200 - * (glob)
+  * "GET /../sub1?cmd=capabilities HTTP/1.1" 404 - (glob)
+
+  $ killdaemons.py
+  $ rm hg1.pid error.log access.log
+#endif
+
 Cleaning both repositories, just as a clone -U
 
   $ hg up -C -R sub2 null
diff --git a/tests/test-subrepo-recursion.t b/tests/test-subrepo-recursion.t
--- a/tests/test-subrepo-recursion.t
+++ b/tests/test-subrepo-recursion.t
@@ -251,6 +251,60 @@ Status between revisions:
    z1
   +z2
 
+#if serve
+  $ cd ..
+  $ hg serve -R repo --debug -S -p $HGPORT -d --pid-file=hg1.pid -E error.log -A access.log
+  adding  = $TESTTMP/repo (glob)
+  adding foo = $TESTTMP/repo/foo (glob)
+  adding foo/bar = $TESTTMP/repo/foo/bar (glob)
+  listening at http://*:$HGPORT/ (bound to *:$HGPORT) (glob) (?)
+  adding  = $TESTTMP/repo (glob) (?)
+  adding foo = $TESTTMP/repo/foo (glob) (?)
+  adding foo/bar = $TESTTMP/repo/foo/bar (glob) (?)
+  $ cat hg1.pid >> $DAEMON_PIDS
+
+  $ hg clone http://localhost:$HGPORT clone  --config progress.disable=True
+  requesting all changes
+  adding changesets
+  adding manifests
+  adding file changes
+  added 3 changesets with 5 changes to 3 files
+  updating to branch default
+  cloning subrepo foo from http://localhost:$HGPORT/foo
+  requesting all changes
+  adding changesets
+  adding manifests
+  adding file changes
+  added 4 changesets with 7 changes to 3 files
+  cloning subrepo foo/bar from http://localhost:$HGPORT/foo/bar (glob)
+  requesting all changes
+  adding changesets
+  adding manifests
+  adding file changes
+  added 3 changesets with 3 changes to 1 files
+  3 files updated, 0 files merged, 0 files removed, 0 files unresolved
+
+  $ cat clone/foo/bar/z.txt
+  z1
+  z2
+  z3
+
+  $ cat access.log
+  * "GET /?cmd=capabilities HTTP/1.1" 200 - (glob)
+  * "GET /?cmd=batch HTTP/1.1" 200 - * (glob)
+  * "GET /?cmd=getbundle HTTP/1.1" 200 - * (glob)
+  * "GET /foo?cmd=capabilities HTTP/1.1" 200 - (glob)
+  * "GET /foo?cmd=batch HTTP/1.1" 200 - * (glob)
+  * "GET /foo?cmd=getbundle HTTP/1.1" 200 - * (glob)
+  * "GET /foo/bar?cmd=capabilities HTTP/1.1" 200 - (glob)
+  * "GET /foo/bar?cmd=batch HTTP/1.1" 200 - * (glob)
+  * "GET /foo/bar?cmd=getbundle HTTP/1.1" 200 - * (glob)
+
+  $ killdaemons.py
+  $ rm hg1.pid error.log access.log
+  $ cd repo
+#endif
+
 Enable progress extension for archive tests:
 
   $ cp $HGRCPATH $HGRCPATH.no-progress