FAQ

• FAQ
• What is WebDAV
• What is SabreDAV
• Is SabreDAV stable?
• Why would I use SabreDAV instead of apache's mod_dav
• It doesn't work!
• Authentication doesn't work
• Which clients are supported?
• Does SabreDAV pass the litmus test?
• Can SabreDAV work with large files
• Does SabreDAV work with Microsoft Outlook
• I'm getting 0-byte files on the server
• How can I help?
• I have a different question

What is WebDAV

WebDAV is a network filesystem protocol. You can compare it to for windows networking, FTP, SFTP. The WebDAV protocol is supported natively by Microsoft Windows, OS/X and a lot of the Linux distributions.

WebDAV is a protocol that sits on top of the HTTP protocol, because of this it also works often through corporate firewalls.

http://www.webdav.org/

What is SabreDAV

SabreDAV is a WebDAV server completely built in PHP5. This means all you need to enable WebDAV access to your Web server is PHP5

Is SabreDAV stable?

SabreDAV has been deployed by live applications since 2007, and more than 95% of the core code is covered by unittests. It is currently in use by multiple corporations.

No software is bugfree though, but SabreDAV is actively maintained, so if anything pops up we're usually quick to respond.

Why would I use SabreDAV instead of apache's mod_dav

mod_dav works perfectly if you want to share a directory on your filesystem. The focus of SabreDAV is to enable filesystem-like access to your existing web application.

For example a blog; If we would expose the database records for all your postings using SabreDAV, you can use your favorite editor to edit all your posts, or create new ones.

The key here is that SabreDAV doesn't access actual files, but creates a virtual file for every post.

In addition, SabreDAV has support for a much wider range of the protocol, as it includes CalDAV support for instance.

It doesn't work!

It can be tricky sometimes to debug problems with WebDAV, because error messages are often cryptic and not really helpful. The most common problem is permission problems on the server. If you are dealing with directories and files from the filesystem, make sure the webserver has rights to write to that directory.

Furthermore, you can dig deeper for answers by using a debug proxy, such as charles. If you think you have found a bug, please open up a new issue. Make sure you run charles beforehand and attach a recorded session to the bug.

An wise basic measure is to convert all PHP errors to exceptions. This will ensure the client will at least get an HTTP 500 error when something goes wrong (HTTP 200 status code is default for PHP, also when an error occurred). This was a design decision because we felt it was fine to intercept exceptions happening anywhere within the context of SabreDAV, but registering an error_handler is a global setting and thus intrusive.

To do this, simply add this to your code:

<?php
function exception_error_handler($errno, $errstr, $errfile, $errline ) {
    throw new ErrorException($errstr, 0, $errno, $errfile, $errline);
}
set_error_handler("exception_error_handler");
?>

Authentication doesn't work

There are several server configuration that can affect if authentication will work. The Authentication wiki page has more information.

Which clients are supported?

Most Web- and CalDAV clients we've gotten our hands on fully work, but for some there's some caveats. (especially Windows and OS/X Finder.)

You can easily look up more information about specific clients, by going to the Clients list

Does SabreDAV pass the litmus test?

Litmus is a handy tool that helps you test your WebDAV server for all standard features. The current status of the litmus test can be found on the Litmus page

Can SabreDAV work with large files

Yes, read WorkingWithLargeFiles.

Does SabreDAV work with Microsoft Outlook

Outlook does not support CalDAV, and therefore it is also not possible to sync with SabreDAV (or any other CalDAV implementation).

Open Connector is a free plugin for Outlook that is supposed to provide support for this, but the project appears unmaintained since 2008, and I personally haven't gotten it to work. If you did, let me know how.

iCal4OL is another (non-free, but it has a trial). I have personally not tested it so if it worked with SabreDAV, also let us know!

I'm getting 0-byte files on the server

This could mean that you're using PHP through FastCGI, and using Finder as a client. For some more information, read the Finder documentation (specifically the note about Chunked encoding).

How can I help?

We're definitely short on people. If you'd like to contribute, here are some areas we could use some help with:

• Testing on various platforms. Most of our development is done in Apache, and we've been testing using NGinx and Lighttpd. I'd love to hear how SabreDAV runs on IIS, or Apache on windows and what you needed to do to get it running.
• Writing documentation. The documentation is coming along, but still a little sparse.
• Blog about the project! Tell us how you're using it.
• Core development.
• Sponsor a feature.
• Hire maintainers of this project to integrate WebDAV in your application.

I have a different question

Definitely hit us up on the mailing list.