- From: <jamsden@us.ibm.com>
- Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 09:25:59 -0400
- To: w3c-dist-auth@w3.org, ietf-dav-versioning@w3.org
- cc: gstein@lyra.org
IBM is pleased to announce the availability of WebSphere DAV4J on
alphaworks at http://alphaworks/tech/DAV4J.
WebSphere DAV4J, with Apache 1.3.6 and WebSphere AppServer 2.0.2,
provides full a WebDAV class 1 and 2 web authoring server. The
DAV4J architecture encapsulates WebDAV semantics in a distributed
object model implemented in Java. The architecture treats HTTP as
one of many supported wire-level protocols for marshalling
arguments and invoking methods on distributed objects. The DAV4J
client API provides Java client applications with a simple, rich
interface for accessing resources managed by a WebDAV server. Using
this API, client applications are relieved from managing the
details of low level HTTP communication protocol, constructing and
parsing XML request and response entity bodies, and the
complexities of the WebDAV semantics. This API provides functional
scalability as proposed extensions are added to WebDAV.
DAV4J includes a servlet that with WebSphere AppServer extends the
Apache Web server, and other web servers, with the WebDAV protocol.
This servlet acts as an HTTP-based Object Request Broker for
servicing distributed object requests through HTTP using WebDAV
extensions. The DAV4J server architecture supports the ability to
transparently access many underlying repository managers using a
single, open, standard protocol: WebDAV.
This DAV4J release provides:
A Java servlet that along with WebSphere AppServer enables DAV
class 1 and 2 methods in the Apache and other Web servers. The
Apache Web server can be configured so that some URLs can be
handled either directly by the Apache server without WebDAV
methods while other URLs are handled by the DAV4J servlet with
WebDAV methods. This allows a single Apache server to be both
a production and authoring server on different resource
collections.
Protocol independent (not just WebDAV) communication between
client and server applications including support for http:,
rmi:, and local access (same process). Support for iiop: will
be provided in a future release. Local access, i.e., no remote
procedure calls, is used if the host name in the URL is the
local host and no port is specified.
A high-level, object-oriented interface capturing the WebDAV
semantics that can interface with any WebDAV compliant server.
The ability to access multiple back end repository managers
using a single, common, standard, simple protocol: WebDAV.
This release includes a repository manager based on the file
system. There is also support for the NetObjects Authoring
Server available from NetObjects. Future releases will include
support for the TeamConnection family of repository managers.
Platform independent, 100% pure Java portability.
This release of DAV4J contains the IBM DAV4J client API, the DAV4J
servlet, and the file system repository manager. By changing a few
simple properties, the WebSphere AppServer can be configured to
support the WebDAV methods in the Apache Web server, or many other
Web servers capable of executing servlets including the IBM
WebSphere Test Environment that is part of VisualAge/Java. WebDAV
is described in the IETF draft specification
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-webdav-protocol-08.t
xt.
DAV4J is intended to provide a reference implementation of WebDAV
in a language, architecture, and development environment that
facilitates exploration of both WebDAV semantics and proposed
extensions. This will facilitate early adoption of WebDAV and
provide a platform for implementation exploration and feedback to
the WebDAV working groups. DAV4J is not intended to be a production
web authoring server at this time. Future plans include support for
advanced collections, access control, versioning, parallel
development, configuration management, and searching. We are also
working on plans to open-source DAV4J in order to facilitate
exploration with WebDAV outside IBM.
Received on Tuesday, 11 May 1999 09:26:50 UTC