Editing WebDAV (section)

{{Short description|HTTP Extension for collaborative editing}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Primary sources|date=September 2020}}
{{External links|date=November 2024}}
}}
{{Infobox networking protocol
| name     = WebDAV
| rfcs     = {{IETF RFC|2518}}, {{IETF RFC|4918}}
| ports    = 80, 443
| osilayer = [[Application layer|Application]]
}}

'''WebDAV''' ('''Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning''') is a set of extensions to the [[Hypertext Transfer Protocol]] (HTTP), which allows [[user agent]]s to collaboratively author contents ''directly'' in an [[Web server|HTTP web server]] by providing facilities for [[concurrency control]] and [[Namespace|namespace operations]], thus allowing the [[World Wide Web|Web]] to be viewed as a ''writeable, collaborative medium'' and not just a read-only medium.{{sfn|Whitehead|Goland|1999|p=293}} WebDAV is defined in {{IETF RFC|4918}} by a [[working group]] of the [[Internet Engineering Task Force]] (IETF).{{sfn|Whitehead|1998|p=34}}

The WebDAV protocol provides a framework for users to create, change and move documents on a [[Server (computing)|server]]. The most important features include the maintenance of properties about an author or modification date, [[namespace]] management, collections, and overwrite protection. Maintenance of properties includes such things as the creation, removal, and querying of file information. Namespace management deals with the ability to copy and move web pages within a server's namespace. Collections deal with the creation, removal, and listing of various resources. Lastly, overwrite protection handles aspects related to the locking of files. It takes advantage of existing technologies such as [[Transport Layer Security]], [[digest access authentication]] or [[XML]] to satisfy those requirements.{{sfn|Whitehead|Goland|1999|p=294}}

Many{{which|date=August 2024}} modern [[operating system]]s provide built-in [[client-side]] support for WebDAV.{{cn|date=August 2024}}