RE: WebDAV and 404-handling

Lisa,

> 
> The IE method of doing HEAD then PUT is a timing-dependent solution to
> preventing unintended overwrites.

Well, I usually just assume that Microsoft does it the wrong
way. This is a good, time-saving heuristic :-)

> As such, it's about as dependable as
> the rhythm method in preventing unintended pregnancies.
I am not familiar with that one...

> The recommended way to prevent overwrite on PUT is to put the header
> "If-None-Match: *" on the request.   See for example
> http://www.w3.org/1999/04/Editing/.
> 
> This may not solve your problem because it sounds like you have control
> over the server but not the client.

Partially true, because I could change the server side.
Doing so would however bring other disadvantages. (Such as
having to maintain an extra version of a third party
component.) IE is over course completely out of my hands.
Also, there is no guarantee that the end user actually uses
IE and not e.g Cadaver.

> I'm confused by your statement that
> the server is "correct" in this. I would think the server ought to use a
> 404 Not Found response, with or without a body containing more detail,
> in response to a HEAD.  
See my previous response to Julian, which clarifies this
statement.

> I know Tomcat can be extended with a servlet to respond with a 404 to a
> HEAD to a non-existent file (with or without a body).  Xythos WebFile
> Server does this for example.

Tomcat per se handles non-existant files in the usual
maner. The problem is in the error pages, which are a part
of the servlet specification. (S. my email to Julian again.)


Michael

Received on Thursday, 16 January 2003 12:59:10 UTC