ANN: PyDAV server available for test use

I am pleased to announce that the PARC implementation of WebDAV is now
available for interoperability testing to the WebDAV community.

The server is running on sandbox.xerox.com port 8080.  It is a class 2
server, supporting Exclusive Write locks.  Both the "second" and "infinite"
timeouts are supported.  It supports the WebDAV protocol as of draft 9,  in
particular the new form of XML namespace.

This release has a few limitations.

* It is single threaded.  (This is because it's running on a SunOS machine)
* It has no authentication. 
* The xml:lang attribute is not stored.  (In fact, no attributes are
stored, but the WebDAV spec only mandates that xml:lang be preserved.)
* There is no support for Etags, neither in the If-Match nor the If headers. 
* Only 8 bit ASCII is supported, not UTF-8
* Lock refreshing is not implemented.
* The opaque lock tokens are non-standard (just time stamps) (Does any one
have a Python implementation for GUID generation?)
* Neither COPY nor MOVE are supported. 

I expect to remedy all but the first in the near future.  Finding another
host seems like the hardest task.

I will be grateful for any reports of interoperability experiments.  If
your client code supports only the old XML namespace syntax, I can modify
the WebDAV server to support both old and new.  I will do this on request.

This implementation is in Python, and runs on Python 1.4 or 1.5 on Solaris,
Windows 95 and NT 4.

I also have a python client-side library for programming against the DAV
protocol.

I am also attempting to get permission to release the code to the public,
and will notify you of any progress.

This server is provided to the WebDAV community for research purposes only.
 Xerox Corporation makes no representations whatever with respect to the
use or execution of this object code.  XEROX DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND ALSO INCLUDING
WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT.
NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISION CONTAINED HEREIN, ANY LIABILITY FOR
DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THIS OBJECT CODE OR ITS USE IS EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED,
WHETHER ARISING IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR STRICT
LIABILITY, EVEN IF XEROX CORPORATION IS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGES.

best wishes

Jim

Received on Sunday, 15 November 1998 21:43:53 UTC