amy tech (bones)Feb 29, 2024
WebDAV is really cool and has lots of theoretical very efficient operations, but client support is really spotty, and server support is even more spotty. This sucks because it could have been the Web network filesystem protocol we deserved, but instead is just kind of this awkward relic.

Someone should come up with like JDAV or something that fixes WebDAV.
Show threadJohn-Mark GurneyMar 1, 2024
@amy
Yeah, it could have been so much more if they hadn't fixated on the caldav use case. But as it is, it's a worthless protocol for network file sharing, and there really aren't any true cross platform network file protocols.
Show threadGreg Albrecht W2GMD
@encthenet @amy Funny WebDAV story. Back after the first dot-bomb in the early 2000s I went back to my home town and started taking community college courses. One of the pre-requisite courses was "Business Applications", aka "Microsoft Office 101". It was open, not full, and a pre-requisite, so I thought "Sure, lets get it out of the way, I wouldn't mind learning Access..." ...
Mar 1, 2024 at 12:47amWeb
Show threadGreg Albrecht W2GMDMar 1, 2024
@encthenet @amy In the class, we had to save off all of our classwork to 3.5" disks, and most classroom had to be done in-class because few people had full MS Office licenses at home.
Show threadGreg Albrecht W2GMDMar 1, 2024

@encthenet @amy But, knowing that I knew a little bit about WebDAV, and knowing that even the ancient version of Windows+IE on the school computers supported it, I managed to get my home server to spin up a webdav share that I could mount at school. From there I could skip the dumb floppy, and work on school-work at home, and other work at school, or whenever and wherever I wanted.

That was my WebDAV opus. Unfortunately never had a chance to use it again after that, except for a few experiments with Thunderbird.

Show threadJima Mar 1, 2024

@ampledata @encthenet @amy Modern Windows supports it OK. My 17yo had to make some startup script to reconnect at boot, which is both heart-warming and somewhat disturbing.

(I've only used Apache's WebDAV server implementation — mod_dav, I think?)

Show threadJohn-Mark GurneyMar 1, 2024

@jima

Yeah, apache is what I use as well. Apache, iirc, does support a non-standard extension that allows partial writes, but the rfc standard explicitly disallows it.

There's a good blog post about it that I can dig up if people are interested.
@ampledata @amy