When .html files are served from public directory, page reload is not working

Describe the bug

When you move index.html to public directory, or if you have any other file there, the changes are not reloaded in browser.

Reproduction

Create example.html file in public directory and run vite, then try to change anything in that file. Server will not refresh.

11:20:51 [vite] page reload public/example.html

If you run the file on public/example.html, it works correctly but then you get this warning, which is correct.

files in the public directory are served at the root path.
Instead of /public/example.html, use /example.html.

Page reload should work in both cases - example.html and public/example.html

System Info

Output of npx envinfo --system --npmPackages vite,@vitejs/plugin-vue --binaries --browsers:

System:
    OS: Windows 10 10.0.19042
    CPU: (8) x64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz
    Memory: 8.46 GB / 15.96 GB
  Binaries:
    Node: 14.15.5 - C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.EXE
    Yarn: 1.22.10 - ~\AppData\Roaming\npm\yarn.CMD
    npm: 7.11.2 - C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.CMD
  Browsers:
    Edge: Spartan (44.19041.906.0), Chromium (90.0.818.51)
    Internet Explorer: 11.0.19041.1
  npmPackages:
    vite: ^2.2.3 => 2.2.3

Used package manager: npm

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[CHOYSEN]

I think this is expected. See https://github.com/vitejs/vite/issues/2132#issuecomment-783468908

[lubomirblazekcz]

Ok I am propably a comment spammer today, sorry about that, I managed to workaround this as well.

So if anyone wants to workaround this as me, you can watch for changes with plugin api. You can handle reload in public directory with this aswell.

{
    name: 'reload',
    handleHotUpdate({ file, server }) {
        if (file.endsWith('.html')) {
            server.ws.send({
                type: 'full-reload',
                path: '*'
            });
        }
    },
}