HTTP Extensions for Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)
RFC 4918

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Network Working Group                                  L. Dusseault, Ed.
Request for Comments: 4918                                   CommerceNet
Obsoletes: 2518                                                June 2007
Category: Standards Track

 HTTP Extensions for Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)

Status of This Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2007).

Abstract

   Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) consists of a set
   of methods, headers, and content-types ancillary to HTTP/1.1 for the
   management of resource properties, creation and management of
   resource collections, URL namespace manipulation, and resource
   locking (collision avoidance).

   RFC 2518 was published in February 1999, and this specification
   obsoletes RFC 2518 with minor revisions mostly due to
   interoperability experience.

Dusseault                   Standards Track                     [Page 1]
RFC 4918                         WebDAV                        June 2007

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................7
   2. Notational Conventions ..........................................8
   3. Terminology .....................................................8
   4. Data Model for Resource Properties .............................10
      4.1. The Resource Property Model ...............................10
      4.2. Properties and HTTP Headers ...............................10
      4.3. Property Values ...........................................10
           4.3.1. Example - Property with Mixed Content ..............12
      4.4. Property Names ............................................14
      4.5. Source Resources and Output Resources .....................14
   5. Collections of Web Resources ...................................14
      5.1. HTTP URL Namespace Model ..................................15
      5.2. Collection Resources ......................................15
   6. Locking ........................................................17
      6.1. Lock Model ................................................18
      6.2. Exclusive vs. Shared Locks ................................19
      6.3. Required Support ..........................................20
      6.4. Lock Creator and Privileges ...............................20
      6.5. Lock Tokens ...............................................21
      6.6. Lock Timeout ..............................................21
      6.7. Lock Capability Discovery .................................22
      6.8. Active Lock Discovery .....................................22
   7. Write Lock .....................................................23
      7.1. Write Locks and Properties ................................24
      7.2. Avoiding Lost Updates .....................................24
      7.3. Write Locks and Unmapped URLs .............................25
      7.4. Write Locks and Collections ...............................26
      7.5. Write Locks and the If Request Header .....................28
           7.5.1. Example - Write Lock and COPY ......................28
           7.5.2. Example - Deleting a Member of a Locked
                  Collection .........................................29
      7.6. Write Locks and COPY/MOVE .................................30
      7.7. Refreshing Write Locks ....................................30
   8. General Request and Response Handling ..........................31
      8.1. Precedence in Error Handling ..............................31
      8.2. Use of XML ................................................31
      8.3. URL Handling ..............................................32
           8.3.1. Example - Correct URL Handling .....................32
      8.4. Required Bodies in Requests ...............................33
      8.5. HTTP Headers for Use in WebDAV ............................33
      8.6. ETag ......................................................33
      8.7. Including Error Response Bodies ...........................34
      8.8. Impact of Namespace Operations on Cache Validators ........34
   9. HTTP Methods for Distributed Authoring .........................35
      9.1. PROPFIND Method ...........................................35
           9.1.1. PROPFIND Status Codes ..............................37

Dusseault                   Standards Track                     [Page 2]
RFC 4918                         WebDAV                        June 2007

           9.1.2. Status Codes for Use in 'propstat' Element .........37
           9.1.3. Example - Retrieving Named Properties ..............38