I believe that, out of the box, Apache mod_dav will only display collections and documents to which the user has at least read access. So there is no need for individualized folders, per se. Each user will have a "personalized" view of the same content collection(s).

However, I believe it uses Apache directory and file access controls to evaluate access level: read, write, delete. However, all things in Apache are malleable. Worst case, you write your own permissions module. This probably means finding an existing one and modifying it for your own needs.

The big omission in WebDAV is workflow. It's pretty much in or out. So I don't see WebDAV as a viable method to integrate 3rd party publishing tools (e.g. Dream Weaver, XML Spy, etc.).

FYI, Subversion is an add-on to mod_dav that implements document and collection versioning and a file system replacement. Or, looking at it the other way, Subversion is an RCS that uses mod_dav as it's client/server protocol.

take it easy,
Charles Reitzel


At 11:50 AM 11/15/2002 -0800, Peter Kappus wrote:
St�phane's comment about webDAV reminds me of another idea I've been considering for content delivery. I hope it isn't too off-topic. Suppose you want to distribute your content to users not via HTML but via PDF's, word .docs, Image files, etc. To provide simple access, you set up read-only webDAV folders for their accounts which contain the documents they're entitled to download.

Yes, IIS 5 supports webDAV folders but authentication must be handled via your NT domain and you probably don't want to create an NT account for each of your external users. I haven't adequately examined Apache's mod_dav add-ons. Are there products that only handle webDAV and authentication independently of your web-server? For this system it would only need to provide read-only access.

The second question is this: Suppose, you have 20,000 users and only 20 unique documents. (this is an extreme example) You want to let them access content via webDAV folders but you don't want to store 10,000 copies of one single file... Would it be possible to build a daemon that would handle webDAV requests and authentication to make it appear that the files were always available to the user but actually create directory listings and
deliver documents on-the-fly from a single core repository behind the scenes? It's basically a glorified publishing engine that spits out directory listings and binary files directly to the client and saves a ton of storage. Does such a product already exist? How much knowledge of WebDAV and HTTP would be necessary to build something from scratch? What's the simplest approach? Perl?

I hope this makes sense and seems relevant.

Many thanks,
-Peter


-----Original Message-----
From: Stphane Croisier [mailto:croisier_junk@;jahia.com]
Sent: Friday, November 15, 2002 2:44 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [cms-list] Directory Uploads



Try using a WebDAV server and client so you can map your remote repository
through the Windows WebFolders. In java try:
http://jakarta.apache.org/slide/index.html

Regards

St�phane
www.jahia.org
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