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WebDAV is an IETF working group. The abbreviation stands for Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning. The term also refers to the set of extensions to the HTTP protocol that the group defined which allows users to collaboratively edit and manage files on remote web servers. The WebDAV protocol's aim was to make the World Wide Web a readable and writable medium, in line with Tim Berners-Lee's original vision. It provides functionality to create, change and move documents on a remote server (typically a web server or "web share"). This is useful, among other things, for authoring the documents which a web server serves, but can also be used for general web-based file storage that can be accessed from anywhere. Most modern operating systems provide built-in support for WebDAV. With the right client and a fast network, it can be almost as easy to use files on a WebDAV server as those stored in local directories. History WebDAV began when Jim Whitehead convinced the W3C to host two meetings where people interested in the problem of distributed authoring on the World Wide Web could get together to discuss possible solutions. The original vision of the World Wide Web as expounded by Tim Berners-Lee was a both readable and writable medium. In fact Tim's first web browser, called WorldWideWeb, was capable of both viewing and editing web pages. However as it grew the web became, for most users, a read-only medium. Jim and other like-minded people wanted to fix that limitation. The group of people meeting at the W3C decided that the best way to proceed was to form an IETF working group. The IETF seemed a natural choice as the HTTP protocol was being standardized there and it was assumed that this new effort would lead to extensions to that protocol. As work began on the protocol it became clear that handling both distributed authoring and versioning was just too much and that the tasks would have to be separated. The WebDAV working group therefore decided to focus on just distributed authoring and leave versioning for the future. Documents produced by the working group The WebDAV working group has to date produced several works: The protocol consists of a set of new methods and headers for use in HTTP and has the distinction of almost certainly being the first protocol ever to use XML. Documents not produced by the working group, but published through the IETF Overview of the protocol WebDAV added the following methods to HTTP: Resource is HTTP's name for a referent: that which is pointed to by a URI. The WebDAV working group is still working on a number of extensions to WebDAV including - bindings, and on progressing the base specification to the next maturity level in the Internet Standards track. Related work The WebDAV working group spawned other IETF working groups including the DAV Searching and Locating (DASL) working group and the Web Versioning and Configuration Management (DELTAV) working group. DASL never produced any official standard although there are a number of implementations of its last draft (work continues as non-working-group activity, see DASL). DELTAV produced the Versioning Extensions to WebDAV RFC 3253 which put the V back into WebDAV. The WebDAV Home Page contains up-to-date information about implementations of WebDAV and WebDAV related standards efforts. CalDAV is a protocol allowing calendar access via WebDAV. CalDAV models calendar events as HTTP resources in iCalendar format, and models calendars containing events as WebDAV collections. GroupDAV is a variant of WebDAV which allows client/server groupware systems to store and fetch objects such as calendar items and address book entries instead of web pages. Windows XP and the "mini redirector" Microsoft introduced WebDAV client support in Windows 98 with a feature called "Web folders". This client was simply an extension to Windows Explorer (the desktop/file manager) and later included in Windows 2000. In Windows XP, Microsoft changed the client to the "WebDAV mini-redirector". This new client works at the filesystem level, allowing WebDAV shares to be assigned to a drive letter and used by all software. However, it is also very buggy*. It tries to convert HTTP URL's to UNC paths e.g See also | |||||||
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