INTERNET-DRAFT Geoffrey Clemm, Rational Software
draft-ietf-deltav-versioning-18 Jim Amsden, IBM
Tim Ellison, IBM
Chris Kaler, Microsoft
Jim Whitehead, U.C. Santa Cruz
Expires March 11, 2002 September 11, 2001
Versioning Extensions to WebDAV
Status of this Memo
This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all
provisions of RFC 2026, Section 10.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task
Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups
may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts.
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material
or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt
The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.
Abstract
This document specifies a set of methods, headers, and resource types
that define the WebDAV Versioning extensions to the HTTP/1.1 protocol.
WebDAV Versioning will minimize the complexity of clients that are
capable of interoperating with a variety of versioning repository
managers, to facilitate widespread deployment of applications capable of
utilizing the WebDAV Versioning services. WebDAV Versioning includes:
- Automatic versioning for versioning-unaware clients,
- Version history management,
- Workspace management,
- Baseline management,
- Activity management, and
- URL namespace versioning.
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Table of Contents
1 INTRODUCTION...........................................7
1.1 Relationship to WebDAV...............................7
1.2 Notational Conventions...............................8
1.3 Terms................................................8
1.4 Property Values.....................................11
1.4.1 Initial Property Value...........................11
1.4.2 Protected Property Value.........................11
1.4.3 Computed Property Value..........................12
1.4.4 Boolean Property Value...........................12
1.4.5 DAV:href Property Value..........................12
1.5 DAV Namespace XML Elements..........................12
1.6 Method Preconditions and Postconditions.............12
1.6.1 Example - CHECKOUT request.......................13
1.7 Clarification of COPY Semantics with Overwrite:T....13
1.8 Versioning Methods and Write Locks..................14
2 BASIC VERSIONING FEATURES.............................14
2.1 Basic Versioning Packages...........................14
2.2 Basic Versioning Semantics..........................15
2.2.1 Creating a Version-Controlled Resource...........15
2.2.2 Modifying a Version-Controlled Resource..........17
2.2.3 Reporting........................................19
3 VERSION-CONTROL FEATURE...............................19
3.1 Additional Resource Properties......................19
3.1.1 DAV:comment......................................19
3.1.2 DAV:creator-displayname..........................19
3.1.3 DAV:supported-method-set (protected).............20
3.1.4 DAV:supported-live-property-set (protected)......20
3.1.5 DAV:supported-report-set (protected).............20
3.2 Version-Controlled Resource Properties..............20
3.2.1 DAV:checked-in (protected).......................20
3.2.2 DAV:auto-version.................................21
3.3 Checked-Out Resource Properties.....................21
3.3.1 DAV:checked-out (protected)......................21
3.3.2 DAV:predecessor-set..............................22
3.4 Version Properties..................................22
3.4.1 DAV:predecessor-set (protected)..................22
3.4.2 DAV:successor-set (computed).....................22
3.4.3 DAV:checkout-set (computed)......................22
3.4.4 DAV:version-name (protected).....................22
3.5 VERSION-CONTROL Method..............................23
3.5.1 Example - VERSION-CONTROL........................24
3.6 REPORT Method.......................................24
3.7 DAV:version-tree Report.............................25
3.7.1 Example - DAV:version-tree Report................25
3.8 DAV:expand-property Report..........................27
3.8.1 Example - DAV:expand-property....................28
3.9 Additional OPTIONS Semantics........................29
3.10 Additional PUT Semantics...........................29
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3.11 Additional PROPFIND Semantics......................30
3.12 Additional PROPPATCH Semantics.....................31
3.13 Additional DELETE Semantics........................31
3.14 Additional COPY Semantics..........................32
3.15 Additional MOVE Semantics..........................32
3.16 Additional UNLOCK Semantics........................32
4 CHECKOUT-IN-PLACE FEATURE.............................33
4.1 Additional Version Properties.......................33
4.1.1 DAV:checkout-fork................................33
4.1.2 DAV:checkin-fork.................................34
4.2 Checked-Out Resource Properties.....................34
4.2.1 DAV:checkout-fork................................34
4.2.2 DAV:checkin-fork.................................34
4.3 CHECKOUT Method.....................................35
4.3.1 Example - CHECKOUT...............................36
4.4 CHECKIN Method......................................36
4.4.1 Example - CHECKIN................................38
4.5 UNCHECKOUT Method...................................38
4.5.1 Example - UNCHECKOUT.............................39
4.6 Additional OPTIONS Semantics........................39
5 VERSION-HISTORY FEATURE...............................39
5.1 Version History Properties..........................40
5.1.1 DAV:version-set (protected)......................40
5.1.2 DAV:root-version (computed)......................40
5.2 Additional Version-Controlled Resource Properties...40
5.2.1 DAV:version-history (computed)...................40
5.3 Additional Version Properties.......................40
5.3.1 DAV:version-history (computed)...................40
5.4 DAV:locate-by-history Report........................40
5.4.1 Example - DAV:locate-by-history Report...........41
5.5 Additional OPTIONS Semantics........................42
5.6 Additional DELETE Semantics.........................43
5.7 Additional COPY Semantics...........................43
5.8 Additional MOVE Semantics...........................43
5.9 Additional VERSION-CONTROL Semantics................43
5.10 Additional CHECKIN Semantics.......................44
6 WORKSPACE FEATURE.....................................44
6.1 Workspace Properties................................45
6.1.1 DAV:workspace-checkout-set (computed)............45
6.2 Additional Resource Properties......................45
6.2.1 DAV:workspace (protected)........................45
6.3 MKWORKSPACE Method..................................45
6.3.1 Example - MKWORKSPACE............................46
6.4 Additional OPTIONS Semantics........................46
6.4.1 Example - OPTIONS................................47
6.5 Additional DELETE Semantics.........................48
6.6 Additional MOVE Semantics...........................48
6.7 Additional VERSION-CONTROL Semantics................48
6.7.1 Example - VERSION-CONTROL........................49
7 UPDATE FEATURE........................................49
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7.1 UPDATE Method.......................................50
7.1.1 Example - UPDATE.................................50
7.2 Additional OPTIONS Semantics........................51
8 LABEL FEATURE.........................................51
8.1 Additional Version Properties.......................52
8.1.1 DAV:label-name-set (protected)...................52
8.2 LABEL Method........................................52
8.2.1 Example - Setting a label........................53
8.3 Label Header........................................54
8.4 Additional OPTIONS Semantics........................54
8.5 Additional GET Semantics............................54
8.6 Additional PROPFIND Semantics.......................55
8.7 Additional COPY Semantics...........................55
8.8 Additional CHECKOUT Semantics.......................56
8.9 Additional UPDATE Semantics.........................56
9 WORKING-RESOURCE FEATURE..............................57
9.1 Additional Version Properties.......................58
9.1.1 DAV:checkout-fork................................58
9.1.2 DAV:checkin-fork.................................58
9.2 Working Resource Properties.........................58
9.2.1 DAV:auto-update (protected)......................58
9.2.2 DAV:checkout-fork................................58
9.2.3 DAV:checkin-fork.................................58
9.3 CHECKOUT Method (applied to a version)..............58
9.3.1 Example - CHECKOUT of a version..................59
9.4 CHECKIN Method (applied to a working resource)......60
9.4.1 Example - CHECKIN of a working resource..........61
9.5 Additional OPTIONS Semantics........................61
9.6 Additional COPY Semantics...........................62
9.7 Additional MOVE Semantics...........................62
10 ADVANCED VERSIONING FEATURES........................62
10.1 Advanced Versioning Packages.......................62
10.2 Advanced Versioning Terms..........................63
11 MERGE FEATURE.......................................64
11.1 Additional Checked-Out Resource Properties.........65
11.1.1 DAV:merge-set...................................65
11.1.2 DAV:auto-merge-set..............................65
11.2 MERGE Method.......................................65
11.2.1 Example - MERGE.................................68
11.3 DAV:merge-preview Report...........................69
11.3.1 Example - DAV:merge-preview Report..............69
11.4 Additional OPTIONS Semantics.......................70
11.5 Additional DELETE Semantics........................71
11.6 Additional CHECKIN Semantics.......................71
12 BASELINE FEATURE....................................71
12.1 Version-Controlled Configuration Properties........72
12.1.1 DAV:baseline-controlled-collection (protected)..72
12.2 Checked-Out Configuration Properties...............72
12.2.1 DAV:subbaseline-set.............................72
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12.3 Baseline Properties................................72
12.3.1 DAV:baseline-collection (protected).............73
12.3.2 DAV:subbaseline-set (protected).................73
12.4 Additional Resource Properties.....................73
12.4.1 DAV:version-controlled-configuration (computed).73
12.5 Additional Workspace Properties....................73
12.5.1 DAV:baseline-controlled-collection-set(computed)73
12.6 BASELINE-CONTROL Method............................73
12.6.1 Example - BASELINE-CONTROL......................75
12.7 DAV:compare-baseline Report........................77
12.7.1 Example - DAV:compare-baseline Report...........77
12.8 Additional OPTIONS Semantics.......................78
12.9 Additional MKCOL Semantics.........................78
12.10 Additional COPY Semantics.........................79
12.11 Additional CHECKOUT Semantics.....................79
12.12 Additional CHECKIN Semantics......................79
12.13 Additional UPDATE Semantics.......................80
12.14 Additional MERGE Semantics........................81
13 ACTIVITY FEATURE....................................82
13.1 Activity Properties................................83
13.1.1 DAV:activity-version-set (computed).............83
13.1.2 DAV:activity-checkout-set (computed)............84
13.1.3 DAV:subactivity-set.............................84
13.1.4 DAV:current-workspace-set (computed)............84
13.2 Additional Version Properties......................84
13.2.1 DAV:activity-set................................84
13.3 Additional Checked-Out Resource Properties.........85
13.3.1 DAV:unreserved..................................85
13.3.2 DAV:activity-set................................85
13.4 Additional Workspace Properties....................85
13.4.1 DAV:current-activity-set........................85
13.5 MKACTIVITY Method..................................86
13.5.1 Example - MKACTIVITY............................86
13.6 DAV:latest-activity-version Report.................87
13.7 Additional OPTIONS Semantics.......................87
13.8 Additional DELETE Semantics........................88
13.9 Additional MOVE Semantics..........................88
13.10 Additional CHECKOUT Semantics.....................88
13.10.1 Example - CHECKOUT with an activity............89
13.11 Additional CHECKIN Semantics......................90
13.12 Additional MERGE Semantics........................90
14 VERSION-CONTROLLED-COLLECTION FEATURE...............91
14.1 Version-Controlled Collection Properties...........93
14.1.1 DAV:eclipsed-set (computed).....................93
14.2 Collection Version Properties......................94
14.2.1 DAV:version-controlled-binding-set (protected)..94
14.3 Additional OPTIONS Semantics.......................94
14.4 Additional DELETE Semantics........................94
14.5 Additional MKCOL Semantics.........................94
14.6 Additional COPY Semantics..........................95
14.7 Additional MOVE Semantics..........................95
14.8 Additional VERSION-CONTROL Semantics...............95
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14.9 Additional CHECKOUT Semantics......................96
14.10 Additional CHECKIN Semantics......................96
14.11 Additional UPDATE and MERGE Semantics.............96
15 INTERNATIONALIZATION CONSIDERATIONS.................97
16 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS.............................98
16.1 Auditing and Traceability..........................98
16.2 Increased Need for Access Control..................98
16.3 Security Through Obscurity.........................98
16.4 Denial of Service..................................99
17 IANA CONSIDERATIONS.................................99
18 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY...............................99
19 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...................................100
20 REFERENCES.........................................100
21 AUTHORS' ADDRESSES.................................101
22 APPENDIX A - RESOURCE CLASSIFICATION...............102
22.1 DeltaV-Compliant Unmapped URL.....................102
22.2 DeltaV-Compliant Resource.........................102
22.3 DeltaV-Compliant Collection.......................103
22.4 Versionable Resource..............................103
22.5 Version-Controlled Resource.......................103
22.6 Version...........................................103
22.7 Checked-In Version-Controlled Resource............103
22.8 Checked-Out Resource..............................104
22.9 Checked-Out Version-Controlled Resource...........104
22.10 Working Resource.................................104
22.11 Version History..................................104
22.12 Workspace........................................105
22.13 Activity.........................................105
22.14 Version-Controlled Collection....................105
22.15 Collection Version...............................105
22.16 Version-Controlled Configuration.................105
22.17 Baseline.........................................105
22.18 Checked-Out Version-Controlled Configuration.....106
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1 INTRODUCTION
This document specifies a set of methods, headers, and properties
that define the WebDAV versioning extensions to the HTTP/1.1
protocol. Versioning is concerned with tracking and accessing the
history of important states of a web resource, such as a standalone
web page. The benefits of versioning in the context of the
worldwide web include:
- A resource has an explicit history and a persistent identity
across the various states it has had during the course of that
history. It allows browsing through past and alternative versions
of a resource. Frequently the modification and authorship history
of a resource is critical information in itself.
- Resource states (versions) are given stable names that can
support externally stored links for annotation and link server
support. Both annotation and link servers frequently need to store
stable references to portions of resources that are not under their
direct control. By providing stable states of resources, version
control systems allow not only stable pointers into those
resources, but also well defined methods to determine the
relationships of those states of a resource.
WebDAV Versioning defines both basic and advanced versioning
functionality.
Basic versioning allows users to:
- Put a resource under version control
- Determine whether a resource is under version control
- Determine whether a resource update will automatically be
captured as a new version
- Create and access distinct versions of a resource
Advanced versioning provides additional functionality for parallel
development and configuration management of sets of web resources.
This document will first define the properties and method semantics
for the basic versioning features, and then define the additional
properties and method semantics for the advanced versioning
features. An implementer that is only interested in basic
versioning should skip the advanced versioning sections (Section 10
to Section 14).
1.1 Relationship to WebDAV
To maximize interoperability and the use of existing protocol
functionality, versioning support is designed as extensions to the
WebDAV protocol [RFC2518], which itself is an extension to the HTTP
protocol [RFC2616]. All method marshalling and postconditions
defined by RFC 2518 and RFC 2616 continue to hold, to ensure that
versioning unaware clients can interoperate successfully with
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versioning servers. Although the versioning extensions are
designed to be orthogonal to most aspects of the WebDAV and HTTP
protocols, a clarification to RFC 2518 is required for effective
interoperable versioning. This clarification is described in
Section 1.7.
1.2 Notational Conventions
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in
this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.
The term "protected" is placed in parentheses following the
definition of a protected property (see Section 1.4.2).
The term "computed" is placed in parentheses following the
definition of a computed property (see Section 1.4.3).
When an XML element type in the "DAV:" namespace is referenced in
this document outside of the context of an XML fragment, the string
"DAV:" will be prefixed to the element type.
When a method is defined in this document, a list of preconditions
and postconditions will be defined for that method. If the
semantics of an existing method is being extended, a list of
additional preconditions and postconditions will be defined. A
precondition or postcondition is be prefixed by a parenthesized XML
element type that identifies that precondition or postcondition
(see Section 1.6).
1.3 Terms
This document uses the terms defined in RFC 2616, in RFC 2518, and
in this section. Section 2.2 defines the semantic versioning model
underlying this terminology.
Version Control, Checked-In, Checked-Out
"Version control" is a set of constraints on how a resource can be
updated. A resource under version control is either in a "checked-
in" or "checked-out" state, and the version control constraints
apply only while the resource is in the checked-in state.
Versionable Resource
A "versionable resource" is a resource that can be put under
version control.
Version-Controlled Resource
When a versionable resource is put under version control, it
becomes a "version-controlled resource". A version-controlled
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resource can be "checked out" to allow modification of its content
or dead properties by standard HTTP and WebDAV methods.
Checked-Out Resource
A "checked-out resource" is a resource under version control that
is in the checked-out state.
Version Resource
A "version resource", or simply "version", is a resource that
contains a copy of a particular state (content and dead properties)
of a version-controlled resource. A version is created by
"checking in" a checked-out resource. The server allocates a
distinct new URL for each new version, and this URL will never be
used to identify any resource other than that version. The content
and dead properties of a version never change.
Version History Resource
A "version history resource", or simply "version history", is a
resource that contains all the versions of a particular version-
controlled resource.
Version Name
A "version name" is a string chosen by the server to distinguish
one version of a version history from the other versions of that
version history. Versions from different version histories may
have the same version name.
Predecessor, Successor, Ancestor, Descendant
When a version-controlled resource is checked out and then
subsequently checked in, the version that was checked out becomes a
"predecessor" of the version created by the checkin. A client can
specify multiple predecessors for a new version if the new version
is logically a merge of those predecessors. When a version is
connected to another version by traversing one or more predecessor
relations, it is called an "ancestor" of that version. The inverse
of the predecessor and ancestor relations are the "successor" and
"descendant" relations. Therefore, if X is a predecessor of Y,
then Y is a successor of X, and if X is an ancestor of Y, then Y is
a descendant of X.
Root Version Resource
The "root version resource", or simply "root version", is the
version in a version history that is an ancestor of every other
version in that version history.
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Workspace Resource
A "workspace resource", or simply "workspace", is a collection that
contains at most one version-controlled resource for a given
version history (see Section 6).
Working Resource
A "working resource" is a checked-out resource created by the
server at a server-defined URL when a version (instead of a
version-controlled resource) is checked out. Unlike a checked-out
version-controlled resource, a working resource is a deleted when
it is checked in.
Fork, Merge
When a second successor is added to a version, this creates a
"fork" in the version history. When a version is created with
multiple predecessors, this creates a "merge" in the version
history. A server may restrict the version history to be linear
(with no forks or merges), but an interoperable versioning client
should be prepared to deal with both forks and merges in the
version history.
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The following diagram illustrates several of the previous
definitions. Each box represents a version and each line between
two boxes represents a predecessor/successor relationship. For
example, it shows V3 is a predecessor of V5, V7 is a successor of
V5, V1 is an ancestor of V4, and V7 is a descendant of V4. It also
shows that there is a fork at version V2 and a merge at version V7.
History of foo.html
+---+
Root Version -------> | | V1
+---+ ^
| |
| |
+---+ |
Version Name ----> V2 | | | Ancestor
+---+ |
/ \ |
/ \ |
+---+ +---+
| | V3 | | V4
^ +---+ +---+
| | | |
Predecessor | | | |
+---+ +---+ |
| | V5 | | V6 | Descendant
+---+ +---+ |
Successor | \ / |
| \ / |
v +---+ v
| | V7
+---+
Label
A "label" is a name that can be used to select a version from a
version history. A label can be assigned by either a client or the
server. The same label can be used in different version histories.
1.4 Property Values
1.4.1 Initial Property Value
Unless an initial value of a property of a given type is defined by
this document, the initial value of a property of that type is
implementation dependent.
1.4.2 Protected Property Value
When a property of a specific kind of resource is "protected", the
property value cannot be updated on that kind of resource except by
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a method explicitly defined as updating that specific property. In
particular, a protected property cannot be updated with a PROPPATCH
request. Note that a given property can be protected on one kind
of resource, but not protected on another kind of resource.
1.4.3 Computed Property Value
When a property is "computed", its value is defined in terms of a
computation based on the content and other properties of that
resource, or even of some other resource. When the semantics of a
method is defined in this document, the effect of that method on
non-computed properties will be specified; the effect of that
method on computed properties will not be specified, but can be
inferred from the computation defined for those properties. A
computed property is always a protected property.
1.4.4 Boolean Property Value
Some properties take a Boolean value of either "false" or "true".
1.4.5 DAV:href Property Value
The DAV:href XML element is defined in RFC 2518, Section 12.3.
1.5 DAV Namespace XML Elements in Request and Response Bodies
Although WebDAV request and response bodies can be extended by
arbitrary XML elements, which can be ignored by the message
recipient, an XML element in the DAV namespace MUST NOT be used in
the request or response body of a versioning method unless that XML
element is explicitly defined in an IETF RFC.
1.6 Method Preconditions and Postconditions
A "precondition" of a method describes the state on the server that
must be true for that method to be performed. A "postcondition" of
a method describes the state on the server that must be true after
that method has completed. If a method precondition or
postcondition for a request is not satisfied, the response status
of the request MUST be either 403 (Forbidden) if the request should
not be repeated because it will always fail, or 409 (Conflict) if
it is expected that the user might be able to resolve the conflict
and resubmit the request.
In order to allow better client handling of 403 and 409 responses,
a distinct XML element type is associated with each method
precondition and postcondition of a request. When a particular
precondition is not satisfied or a particular postcondition cannot
be achieved, the appropriate XML element MUST be returned as the
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child of a top-level DAV:error element in the response body, unless
otherwise negotiated by the request. In a 207 Multi-Status
response, the DAV:error element would appear in the appropriate
DAV:responsedescription element.
1.6.1 Example - CHECKOUT request with DAV:must-be-checked-in response
>>REQUEST
CHECKOUT /foo.html HTTP/1.1
Host: www.webdav.org
>>RESPONSE
HTTP/1.1 409 Conflict
Content-Type: text/xml; charset="utf-8"
Content-Length: xxxx
In this example, the request to CHECKOUT /foo.html fails because
/foo.html is not checked in.
1.7 Clarification of COPY Semantics with Overwrite:T
RFC 2518, Section 8.8.4 states:
"If a resource exists at the destination and the Overwrite header
is "T" then prior to performing the copy the server MUST perform a
DELETE with "Depth: infinity" on the destination resource."
The purpose of this sentence is to ensure that following a COPY,
all destination resources have the same content and dead properties
as the corresponding resources identified by the request-URL (where
a resources with a given name relative to the Destination URL
"corresponds" to a resource with the same name relative to the
request-URL). If at the time of the request, there already is a
resource at the destination that has the same resource type as the
corresponding resource at the request-URL, that resource MUST NOT
be deleted, but MUST be updated to have the content and dead
properties of its corresponding member. If a client wishes all
resources at the destination to be deleted prior to the COPY, it
MUST explicitly issue a DELETE request.
The difference between updating a resource and replacing a resource
with a new resource is especially important when resource history
is being maintained (the former adds to an existing history, while
the latter creates a new history). In addition, locking and access
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control constraints might allow you to update a resource, but not
allow you to delete it and create a new one in its place.
Note that this clarification does not apply to a MOVE request. A
MOVE request with Overwrite:T MUST perform the DELETE with
"Depth:infinity" on the destination resource prior to performing
the MOVE.
1.8 Versioning Methods and Write Locks
If a write-locked resource has a non-computed property defined by
this document, the property value MUST NOT be changed by a request
unless the appropriate lock token is included in the request.
Since every method introduced in this document other than REPORT
modifies at least one property defined by this document, every
versioning method other than REPORT is affected by a write lock. In
particular, the method MUST fail with a 423 (Locked) status if the
resource is write-locked and the appropriate token is not specified
in an If request header.
2 BASIC VERSIONING FEATURES
Each basic versioning feature defines extensions to existing HTTP
and WebDAV methods, as well as new resource types, live properties,
and methods.
2.1 Basic Versioning Packages
Although a server MAY support any combination of versioning
features, in order to minimize the complexity of a WebDAV basic
versioning client, a WebDAV basic versioning server SHOULD support
one of the following three "packages" (feature sets):
- Core-Versioning Package: version-control
- Basic-Server-Workspace Package: version-control, workspace,
version-history, checkout
- Basic-Client-Workspace Package: version-control, working-
resource, update, label
The core-versioning package supports linear versioning by both
versioning-aware and versioning-unaware client. A versioning-aware
client can use reports and properties to access previous versions
of a version-controlled resource.
The basic workspace packages support parallel development of
version-controlled resources. Each client has its own
configuration of the shared version-controlled resources, and can
make changes to its configuration without disturbing that of
another client.
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In the basic-server-workspace package, all persistent state is
maintained on the server. Each client has its own workspace
resource allocated on the server, where each workspace identifies a
configuration of the shared version-controlled resources. Each
client makes changes to its workspace, and can transfer changes
when appropriate from one workspace to another. The server
workspace package is appropriate for clients with no local
persistent state, or for clients that wish to expose their working
configurations to other clients.
In the basic-client-workspace package, each client maintains in
local persistent storage the state for its configuration of the
shared version-controlled resources. When a client is ready to
make its changes visible to other clients, it allocates a set of
"working resources" on the server, updates the content and dead
properties of these working resources, and then uses the set of
working resources to update the version-controlled resources. The
working resources are used instead of directly updating the
version-controlled resources so that sets of consistent updates can
be prepared in parallel by multiple clients. Also, a working
resource allows a client to prepare a single update that requires
multiple server requests (e.g. updating both the content and dead
properties of a resource requires both a PUT and a PROPPATCH). The
client workspace package simplifies the server implementation by
requiring each client to maintain its own namespace, but this
requires that the clients have local persistent state, and does not
allow clients to expose their working configurations to other
clients.
A server that supports both basic workspace packages will
interoperate with all basic versioning clients.
2.2 Basic Versioning Semantics
2.2.1 Creating a Version-Controlled Resource
In order to track the history of the content and dead properties of
a versionable resource, a user can put the resource under version
control with a VERSION-CONTROL request. A VERSION-CONTROL request
performs three distinct operations:
1) It creates a new "version history resource". In basic
versioning, a version history resource is not assigned a URL, and
hence is not visible in the http scheme URL space. However, when
the version-history feature (see Section 5) is supported, this
changes, and each version history resource is assigned a new
distinct and unique server-defined URL.
2) It creates a new "version resource" and adds it to the new
version history resource. The body and dead properties of the new
version resource are a copy of those of the versionable resource.
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The server assigns the new version resource a new distinct and
unique URL.
3) It converts the versionable resource into a "version-controlled
resource". The version-controlled resource continues to be
identified by the same URL that identified it as a versionable
resource. As part of this conversion, it adds a DAV:checked-in
property, whose value contains the URL of the new version resource.
Note that a versionable resource and a version-controlled resource
are not new types of resources (i.e. they introduce no new
DAV:resourcetype), but rather are any type of resource that
supports the methods and live properties defined for them in this
document, in addition to all the methods and live properties
implied by their DAV:resourcetype. For example, a collection
(whose DAV:resourcetype is DAV:collection) is a versionable
resource if it supports the VERSION-CONTROL method, and is a
version-controlled resource if it supports the version-controlled
resource methods and live properties.
In the following example, foo.html is a versionable resource that
is put under version control. After the VERSION-CONTROL request
succeeds, there are two additional resources: a new version history
resource and a new version resource in that version history. The
versionable resource is converted into a version-controlled
resource, whose DAV:checked-in property identifies the new version
resource. The content and dead properties of a resource are
represented by the symbol appearing inside the box for that
resource (e.g. "S1" in the following example).
===VERSION-CONTROL==>
| +----+ version
| version- | | history
versionable | controlled +----+ resource
resource | resource |
/foo.html | /foo.html |
| v
+----+ | +----+ checked-in +----+ version
| S1 | | | S1 |----------->| S1 | resource
+----+ | +----+ +----+ /his/73/ver/1
Thus, whereas before the VERSION-CONTROL request there was only
one, non-version-controlled resource, after VERSION-CONTROL there
are three separate, distinct resources, each containing its own
state and properties: the version-controlled resource, the version
resource, and the version history resource. Since the version-
controlled resource and the version resource are separate, distinct
resources, when a method is applied to a version-controlled
resource, it is only applied to that version-controlled resource,
and is not applied to the version resource that is currently
identified by the DAV:checked-in property of that version-
controlled resource. Although the content and dead properties of a
checked-in version-controlled resource are required to be the same
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as those of its current DAV:checked-in version, its live properties
may differ. An implementation may optimize storage by retrieving
the content and dead properties of a checked-in version-controlled
resource from its current DAV:checked-in version rather than
storing them in the version-controlled resource, but this is just
an implementation optimization.
Normally, a resource is placed under version control with an
explicit VERSION-CONTROL request. A server MAY automatically place
every new versionable resource under version control. In this
case, the resulting state on the server MUST be the same as if the
client had explicitly applied a VERSION-CONTROL request to the
versionable resource.
2.2.2 Modifying a Version-Controlled Resource
In order to use methods like PUT and PROPPATCH to directly modify
the content or dead properties of a version-controlled resource,
the version-controlled resource must first be checked out. When
the checked-out resource is checked in, a new version is created in
the version history of that version-controlled resource. The
version that was checked out is remembered as the predecessor of
the new version.
The DAV:auto-version property (see Sections 3.2.2) of a checked-in
version-controlled resource determines how it responds to a method
that attempts to modify its content or dead properties. Possible
responses include:
- Fail the request. The resource requires an explicit CHECKOUT
request for it to be modified (see Sections 4 and 9.2.1).
- Automatically checkout the resource, perform the modification,
and automatically checkin the resource. This ensures that every
state of the resource is tracked by the server, but can result in
an excessive number of versions being created.
- Automatically checkout the resource, perform the modification,
and then if the resource is not write-locked, automatically checkin
the resource. If the resource is write-locked, it remains checked-
out until the write-lock is removed (either explicitly through a
subsequent UNLOCK request or implicitly through a time-out of the
write-lock). This helps a locking client avoid the proliferation
of versions, while still allowing a non-locking client to update
the resource.
- Automatically checkout the resource, perform the modification,
and then leave the resource checked out. If the resource is write-
locked, it will be automatically checked in when the write-lock is
removed, but an explicit CHECKIN operation (see Section 4.4) is
required for a non-write-locked resource. This minimizes the
number of new versions that will be created by a versioning unaware
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client, but only a versioning aware client can create new versions
of a non-write-locked resource.
- Fail the request unless the resource is write-locked. If it is
write-locked, automatically checkout the resource and perform the
modification. The resource is automatically checked in when the
write-lock is removed. This minimizes the number of new versions
that will be created by a versioning unaware client, but never
automatically checks out a resource that will not subsequently be
automatically checked in.
The following diagram illustrates the effect of the
checkout/checkin process on a version-controlled resource and its
version history. The symbol inside a box (S1, S2, S3) represents
the current content and dead properties of the resource represented
by that box. The symbol next to a box (V1, V2, V3) represents the
URL for that resource.
===checkout==> ===PUT==> ===checkin==>
/foo.html (version-controlled resource)
+----+ | +----+ | +----+ | +----+
| S2 | | | S2 | | | S3 | | | S3 |
+----+ | +----+ | +----+ | +----+
Checked-In=V2|Checked-Out=V2|Checked-Out=V2|Checked-In=V3
/his/73 (version history for /foo.html)
+----+ | +----+ | +----+ | +----+
| S1 | V1 | | S1 | V1 | | S1 | V1 | | S1 | V1
+----+ | +----+ | +----+ | +----+
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
+----+ | +----+ | +----+ | +----+
| S2 | V2 | | S2 | V2 | | S2 | V2 | | S2 | V2
+----+ | +----+ | +----+ | +----+
| | | |
| | | |
| | | +----+
| | | | S3 | V3
| | | +----+
Note that a version captures only a defined subset of the state of
a resource. In particular, a version of a basic resource captures
its content and dead properties, but not its live properties.
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2.2.3 Reporting
Some versioning information about a resource requires that
parameters be specified along with that request for information.
Included in basic versioning is the required support for an
extensible reporting mechanism, which includes a REPORT method as
well as a live property for determining what reports are supported
by a particular resource. The REPORT method is required by
versioning, but it can be used in non-versioning WebDAV extensions.
To allow a client to query the properties of all versions in the
version history of a specified version-controlled resource, basic
versioning provides the DAV:version-tree report (see Section 3.7).
A more powerful version history reporting mechanism is provided by
applying the DAV:expand-property report (see Section 3.8) to a
version history resource (see Section 5).
3 VERSION-CONTROL FEATURE
The version-control feature provides support for putting a resource
under version control creating an associated version-controlled
resource and version history resource as described in Section
2.2.1. A server indicates that it supports the version-control
feature by including the string "version-control" as a field in the
DAV header in the response to an OPTIONS request. The version-
control feature MUST be supported if any other versioning feature
is supported.
3.1 Additional Resource Properties
The version-control feature introduces the following REQUIRED
properties for any WebDAV resource.
3.1.1 DAV:comment
This property is used to track a brief comment about a resource
that is suitable for presentation to a user. The DAV:comment of a
version can be used to indicate why that version was created.
PCDATA value: string
3.1.2 DAV:creator-displayname
This property contains a description of the creator of the resource
that is suitable for presentation to a user. The DAV:creator-
displayname of a version can be used to indicate who created that
version.
PCDATA value: string
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3.1.3 DAV:supported-method-set (protected)
This property identifies the methods that are supported by the
resource. A method is supported by a resource if there is some
state of that resource for which an application of that method will
successfully satisfy all postconditions of that method, including
any additional postconditions added by the features supported by
that resource.
name value: a method name
3.1.4 DAV:supported-live-property-set (protected)
This property identifies the live properties that are supported by
the resource. A live property is supported by a resource if that
property has the semantics defined for that property. The value of
this property MUST identify all live properties defined by this
document that are supported by the resource, and SHOULD identify
all live properties that are supported by the resource.
ANY value: a property element type
3.1.5 DAV:supported-report-set (protected)
This property identifies the reports that are supported by the
resource.
ANY value: a report element type
3.2 Version-Controlled Resource Properties
The version-control feature introduces the following REQUIRED
properties for a version-controlled resource.
3.2.1 DAV:checked-in (protected)
This property appears on a checked-in version-controlled resource,
and identifies a version that has the same content and dead
properties as the version-controlled resource. This property is
removed when the resource is checked out, and then added back
(identifying a new version) when the resource is checked back in.
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3.2.2 DAV:auto-version
If the DAV:auto-version value is DAV:checkout-checkin, when a
modification request (such as PUT/PROPPATCH) is applied to a
checked-in version-controlled resource, the request is
automatically preceded by a checkout and followed by a checkin
operation.
If the DAV:auto-version value is DAV:checkout-unlocked-checkin,
when a modification request is applied to a checked-in version-
controlled resource, the request is automatically preceded by a
checkout operation. If the resource is not write-locked, the
request is automatically followed by a checkin operation.
If the DAV:auto-version value is DAV:checkout, when a modification
request is applied to a checked-in version-controlled resource, the
request is automatically preceded by a checkout operation.
If the DAV:auto-version value is DAV:locked-checkout, when a
modification request is applied to a write-locked checked-in
version-controlled resource, the request is automatically preceded
by a checkout operation.
If an update to a write-locked checked-in resource is automatically
preceded by a checkout of that resource, the checkout is associated
with the write-lock. When this write lock is removed (e.g. from an
UNLOCK or a lock timeout), if the resource has not yet been checked
in, the removal of the write lock is automatically preceded by a
checkin operation.
A server MAY refuse to allow the value of the DAV:auto-version
property to be modified, or MAY only support values from a subset
of the valid values.
3.3 Checked-Out Resource Properties
The version-control feature introduces the following REQUIRED
properties for a checked-out resource.
3.3.1 DAV:checked-out (protected)
This property identifies the version that was identified by the
DAV:checked-in property at the time the resource was checked out.
This property is removed when the resource is checked in.
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3.3.2 DAV:predecessor-set
This property determines the DAV:predecessor-set property of the
version that results from checking in this resource.
A server MAY reject attempts to modify the DAV:predecessor-set of a
version-controlled resource.
3.4 Version Properties
The version-control feature introduces the following REQUIRED
properties for a version.
3.4.1 DAV:predecessor-set (protected)
This property identifies each predecessor of this version. Except
for the root version, which has no predecessors, each version has
at least one predecessor.
3.4.2 DAV:successor-set (computed)
This property identifies each version whose DAV:predecessor-set
identifies this version.
3.4.3 DAV:checkout-set (computed)
This property identifies each checked-out resource whose
DAV:checked-out property identifies this version.
3.4.4 DAV:version-name (protected)
This property contains a server-defined string that is different
for each version in a given version history. This string is
intended for display to a user, unlike the URL of a version, which
is normally only used by a client and not displayed to a user.
PCDATA value: string
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3.5 VERSION-CONTROL Method
A VERSION-CONTROL request can be used to create a version-
controlled resource at the request-URL. It can be applied to a
versionable resource or to a version-controlled resource.
If the request-URL identifies a versionable resource, a new version
history resource is created, a new version is created whose content
and dead properties are copied from the versionable resource, and
the resource is given a DAV:checked-in property that is initialized
to identify this new version.
If the request-URL identifies a version-controlled resource, the
resource just remains under version-control. This allows a client
to be unaware of whether or not a server automatically puts a
resource under version control when it is created.
If a VERSION-CONTROL request fails, the server state preceding the
request MUST be restored.
Marshalling:
If a request body is included, it MUST be a DAV:version-control XML
element.
If a response body is included, it MUST be a DAV:version-control-
response XML element. Note that this document does not define any
elements for the VERSION-CONTROL response body, but the
DAV:version-control-response element is defined to ensure
interoperability between future extensions that do define elements
for the VERSION-CONTROL response body.
Postconditions:
(DAV:put-under-version-control): If the request-URL identified a
versionable resource at the time of the request, the request MUST
have created a new version history and MUST have created a new
version resource in that version history. The resource MUST have a
DAV:checked-in property that identifies the new version. The
content, dead properties, and DAV:resourcetype of the new version
MUST be the same as those of the resource. Note that an
implementation can choose to locate the version history and version
resources anywhere that it wishes. In particular, it could locate
them on the same host and server as the version-controlled
resource, on a different virtual host maintained by the same
server, on the same host maintained by a different server, or on a
different host maintained by a different server.
(DAV:must-not-change-existing-checked-in-out): If the request-URL
identified a resource already under version control at the time of
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the request, the request MUST NOT change the DAV:checked-in or
DAV:checked-out property of that version-controlled resource.
3.5.1 Example - VERSION-CONTROL
>>REQUEST
VERSION-CONTROL /foo.html HTTP/1.1
Host: www.webdav.org
Content-Length: 0
>>RESPONSE
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
In this example, /foo.html is put under version control. A new
version history is created for it, and a new version is created
that has a copy of the content and dead properties of /foo.html.
The DAV:checked-in property of /foo.html identifies this new
version.
3.6 REPORT Method
A REPORT request is an extensible mechanism for obtaining
information about a resource. Unlike a resource property, which
has a single value, the value of a report can depend on additional
information specified in the REPORT request body and in the REPORT
request headers.
Marshalling:
The body of a REPORT request specifies which report is being
requested, as well as any additional information that will be used
to customize the report.
The request MAY include a Depth header. If no Depth header is
included, Depth:0 is assumed.
The response body for a successful request MUST contain the
requested report.
If a Depth request header is included, the response MUST be a 207
Multi-Status. The request MUST be applied separately to the
collection itself and to all members of the collection that satisfy
the Depth value. The DAV:prop element of a DAV:response for a
given resource MUST contain the requested report for that resource.
Preconditions:
(DAV:supported-report): The specified report MUST be supported by
the resource identified by the request-URL.
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Postconditions:
(DAV:no-modification): The REPORT method MUST NOT have changed the
content or dead properties of any resource.
3.7 DAV:version-tree Report
The DAV:version-tree report describes the requested properties of
all the versions in the version history of a version. If the
report is requested for a version-controlled resource, it is
redirected to its DAV:checked-in or DAV:checked-out version.
The DAV:version-tree report MUST be supported by all version
resources and all version-controlled resources.
Marshalling:
The request body MUST be a DAV:version-tree XML element.
ANY value: a sequence of zero or more elements, with at most one
DAV:prop element.
prop: see RFC 2518, Section 12.11
The response body for a successful request MUST be a
DAV:multistatus XML element.
multistatus: see RFC 2518, Section 12.9
The response body for a successful DAV:version-tree REPORT request
MUST contain a DAV:response element for each version in the version
history of the version identified by the request-URL.
3.7.1 Example - DAV:version-tree Report
The version history drawn below would produce the following version
tree report.
foo.html History
+---+
| | V1
+---+
/ \
/ \
+---+ +---+
| | V2 | | V2.1.1
+---+ +---+
>>REQUEST
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REPORT /foo.html HTTP/1.1
Host: www.webdav.org
Content-Type: text/xml; charset="utf-8"
Content-Length: xxxx
>>RESPONSE
HTTP/1.1 207 Multi-Status
Content-Type: text/xml; charset="utf-8"
Content-Length: xxxx
http://repo.webdav.org/his/23/ver/V1
V1
Fred
http://repo.webdav.org/his/23/ver/V2
http://repo.webdav.org/his/23/ver/V2.1.1
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
http://repo.webdav.org/his/23/ver/V2
V2
Fred
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
http://repo.webdav.org/his/23/ver/V2.1.1
V2.1.1
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Sally
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
3.8 DAV:expand-property Report
Many property values are defined as a DAV:href, or a set of
DAV:href elements. The DAV:expand-property report provides a
mechanism for retrieving in one request the properties from the
resources identified by those DAV:href elements. This report not
only decreases the number of requests required, but also allows the
server to minimize the number of separate read transactions
required on the underlying versioning store.
The DAV:expand-property report SHOULD be supported by all resources
that support the REPORT method.
Marshalling:
The request body MUST be a DAV:expand-property XML element.
name value: a property element type
namespace value: an XML namespace
The response body for a successful request MUST be a
DAV:multistatus XML element.
multistatus: see RFC 2518, Section 12.9
The properties reported in the DAV:prop elements of the
DAV:multistatus element MUST be those identified by the
DAV:property elements in the DAV:expand-property element. If there
are DAV:property elements nested within a DAV:property element,
then every DAV:href in the value of the corresponding property is
replaced by a DAV:response element whose DAV:prop elements report
the values of the properties identified by the nested DAV:property
elements. The nested DAV:property elements can in turn contain
DAV:property elements, so that multiple levels of DAV:href
expansion can be requested.
Note that a validating parser MUST be aware that the DAV:expand-
property report effectively modifies the DTD of every property by
replacing every occurrence of "href" in the DTD with "href |
response".
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3.8.1 Example - DAV:expand-property
This example describes how to query a version-controlled resource
to determine the DAV:creator-display-name and DAV:activity-set of
every version in the version history of that version-controlled
resource. This example assumes that the server supports the
version-history feature (see Section 5).
>>REQUEST
REPORT /foo.html HTTP/1.1
Host: www.webdav.org
Content-Type: text/xml; charset="utf-8"
Content-Length: xxxx
>>RESPONSE
HTTP/1.1 207 Multi-Status
Content-Type: text/xml; charset="utf-8"
Content-Length: xxxx
http://www.webdav.org/foo.html
http://repo.webdav.org/his/23
http://repo.webdav.org/his/23/ver/1
Fred
http://www.webdav.org/ws/dev/sally
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
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http://repo.webdav.org/his/23/ver/2
Sally
http://repo.webdav.org/act/add-refresh-cmd
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
In this example, the DAV:creator-displayname and DAV:activity-set
properties of the versions in the DAV:version-set of the
DAV:version-history of http://www.webdav.org/foo.html are reported.
3.9 Additional OPTIONS Semantics
If the server supports the version-control feature, it MUST include
"version-control" as a field in the DAV response header from an
OPTIONS request on any resource that supports any versioning
properties, reports, or methods.
3.10 Additional PUT Semantics
Additional Preconditions:
(DAV:cannot-modify-version-controlled-content): If the request-URL
identifies a resource with a DAV:checked-in property, the request
MUST fail unless DAV:auto-version semantics will automatically
check out the resource.
(DAV:cannot-modify-version): If the request-URL identifies a
version, the request MUST fail.
If the request creates a new resource that is automatically placed
under version control, all preconditions for VERSION-CONTROL apply
to the request.
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Additional Postconditions:
(DAV:auto-checkout): If the resource was a checked-in version-
controlled resource whose DAV:auto-version property indicates it
should be automatically checked out but not automatically checked
in for a modification request, then the server MUST have
automatically checked out the resource prior to executing the
request. In particular, the value of the DAV:checked-out property
of the resource MUST be that of the DAV:checked-in property prior
to the request, the DAV:checked-in property MUST have been removed,
and the DAV:predecessor-set property MUST be initialized to be the
same as the DAV:checked-out property. If any part of the
checkout/update sequence failed, the status from the failed part of
the request MUST be returned, and the server state preceding the
request sequence MUST be restored.
(DAV:auto-checkout-checkin): If the resource was a checked-in
version-controlled resource whose DAV:auto-version property
indicates it should be automatically checked out and automatically
checked in for a modification request, then the server MUST have
automatically checked out the resource prior to executing the
request and automatically checked it in after the request. In
particular, the DAV:checked-in property of the resource MUST
identify a new version whose content and dead properties are the
same as those of the resource. The DAV:predecessor-set of the new
version MUST identify the version identified by the DAV:checked-in
property prior to the request. If any part of the
checkout/update/checkin sequence failed, the status from the failed
part of the request MUST be returned, and the server state
preceding the request sequence MUST be restored.
If the request creates a new resource, the new resource MAY have
automatically been placed under version control, and all
postconditions for VERSION-CONTROL apply to the request.
3.11 Additional PROPFIND Semantics
A DAV:allprop PROPFIND request SHOULD NOT return any of the
properties defined by this document. This allows a versioning
server to perform efficiently when a naive client, which does not
understand the cost of asking a server to compute all possible live
properties, issues a DAV:allprop PROPFIND request.
Additional Preconditions:
(DAV:supported-live-property): If the request attempts to access a
property defined by this document, the semantics of that property
MUST be supported by the server.
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3.12 Additional PROPPATCH Semantics
Additional Preconditions:
(DAV:cannot-modify-version-controlled-property): If the request
attempts to modify a dead property, same semantics as PUT (see
Section 3.10).
(DAV:cannot-modify-version): If the request attempts to modify a
dead property, same semantics as PUT (see Section 3.10).
(DAV:cannot-modify-protected-property): An attempt to modify a
property defined by this document as being protected for that kind
of resource MUST fail.
(DAV:supported-live-property): An attempt to modify a property
defined by this document whose semantics are not enforced by the
server MUST fail. This helps ensure that a client will be notified
when it is trying to use a property whose semantics are not
supported by the server.
Additional Postconditions:
(DAV:auto-checkout): If the request modified a dead property, same
semantics as PUT (see Section 3.10).
(DAV:auto-checkout-checkin): If the request modified a dead
property, same semantics as PUT (see Section 3.10).
3.13 Additional DELETE Semantics
Additional Preconditions:
(DAV:no-version-delete): A server MAY fail an attempt to DELETE a
version.
Additional Postconditions:
(DAV:update-predecessor-set): If a version was deleted, the server
MUST have replaced any reference to that version in a
DAV:predecessor-set by a copy of the DAV:predecessor-set of the
deleted version.
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3.14 Additional COPY Semantics
Additional Preconditions:
If the request creates a new resource that is automatically placed
under version control, all preconditions for VERSION-CONTROL apply
to the request.
Additional Postconditions:
(DAV:must-not-copy-versioning-property): A property defined by this
document MUST NOT have been copied to the new resource created by
this request, but instead that property of the new resource MUST
have the default initial value it would have had if the new
resource had been created by a non-versioning method such as PUT or
a MKCOL.
(DAV:auto-checkout): If the destination is a version-controlled
resource, same semantics as PUT (see Section 3.10).
(DAV:auto-checkout-checkin): If the destination is a version-
controlled resource, same semantics as PUT (see Section 3.10).
(DAV:copy-creates-new-resource): If the source of a COPY is a
version-controlled resource or version, and if there is no resource
at the destination of the COPY, then the COPY creates a new non-
version-controlled resource at the destination of the COPY. The
new resource MAY automatically be put under version control, but
the resulting version-controlled resource MUST be associated with a
new version history created for that new version-controlled
resource, and all postconditions for VERSION-CONTROL apply to the
request.
3.15 Additional MOVE Semantics
Additional Preconditions:
(DAV:cannot-rename-version): If the request-URL identifies a
version, the request MUST fail.
Additional Postconditions:
(DAV:preserve-versioning-properties): When a resource is moved from
a source URL to a destination URL, a property defined by this
document MUST have the same value at the destination URL as it had
at the source URL.
3.16 Additional UNLOCK Semantics
Note that these semantics apply both to an explicit UNLOCK request,
as well as to the removal of a lock because of a lock timeout. If
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a precondition or postcondition cannot be satisfied, the lock
timeout MUST NOT occur.
Additional Preconditions:
(DAV:version-history-is-tree): If the request-URL identifies a
checked-out version-controlled resource that will be automatically
checked in when the lock is removed, then the versions identified
by the DAV:predecessor-set of the checked-out resource MUST be
descendants of the root version of the version history for the
DAV:checked-out version.
Additional Postconditions:
(DAV:auto-checkin): If the request-URL identified a checked-out
version-controlled resource that had been automatically checked out
because of its DAV:auto-version property, the request MUST have
created a new version in the version history of the DAV:checked-out
version. The request MUST have allocated a URL for the version
that MUST NOT have previously identified any other resource, and
MUST NOT ever identify a resource other than this version. The
content, dead properties, DAV:resourcetype, and DAV:predecessor-set
of the new version MUST be copied from the checked-out resource.
The DAV:version-name of the new version MUST be set to a server-
defined value distinct from all other DAV:version-name values of
other versions in the same version history. The request MUST have
removed the DAV:checked-out property of the version-controlled
resource, and MUST have added a DAV:checked-in property that
identifies the new version.
4 CHECKOUT-IN-PLACE FEATURE
With the version-control feature, WebDAV locking can be used to
avoid the proliferation of versions that would result if every
modification to a version-controlled resource produced a new
version. The checkout-in-place feature provides an alternative
mechanism that allows a client to explicitly check out and check in
a resource to create a new version.
4.1 Additional Version Properties
The checkout-in-place feature introduces the following REQUIRED
properties for a version.
4.1.1 DAV:checkout-fork
This property controls the behavior of CHECKOUT when a version
already is checked out or has a successor. If the DAV:checkout-
fork of a version is DAV:forbidden, a CHECKOUT request MUST fail if
it would result in that version appearing in the DAV:predecessor-
set or DAV:checked-out property of more than one version or
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checked-out resource. If DAV:checkout-fork is DAV:discouraged,
such a CHECKOUT request MUST fail unless DAV:fork-ok is specified
in the CHECKOUT request body.
A server MAY reject attempts to modify the DAV:checkout-fork of a
version.
ANY value: A sequence of elements with at most one DAV:discouraged
or DAV:forbidden element.
4.1.2 DAV:checkin-fork
This property controls the behavior of CHECKIN when a version
already has a successor. If the DAV:checkin-fork of a version is
DAV:forbidden, a CHECKIN request MUST fail if it would result in
that version appearing in the DAV:predecessor-set of more than one
version. If DAV:checkin-fork is DAV:discouraged, such a CHECKIN
request MUST fail unless DAV:fork-ok is specified in the CHECKIN
request body.
A server MAY reject attempts to modify the DAV:checkout-fork of a
version.
ANY value: A sequence of elements with at most one DAV:discouraged
or DAV:forbidden element.
4.2 Checked-Out Resource Properties
The checkout-in-place feature introduces the following REQUIRED
properties for a checked-out resource.
4.2.1 DAV:checkout-fork
This property determines the DAV:checkout-fork property of the
version that results from checking in this resource.
4.2.2 DAV:checkin-fork
This property determines the DAV:checkin-fork property of the
version that results from checking in this resource.
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4.3 CHECKOUT Method (applied to a version-controlled resource)
A CHECKOUT request can be applied to a checked-in version-
controlled resource to allow modifications to the content and dead
properties of that version-controlled resource.
If a CHECKOUT request fails, the server state preceding the request
MUST be restored.
Marshalling:
If a request body is included, it MUST be a DAV:checkout XML
element.
ANY value: A sequence of elements with at most one DAV:fork-ok
element.
If a response body is included, it MUST be a DAV:checkout-response
XML element.
The response MUST include a Cache-Control:no-cache header.
Preconditions:
(DAV:must-be-checked-in): If a version-controlled resource is being
checked out, it MUST have a DAV:checked-in property.
(DAV:checkout-of-version-with-descendant-is-forbidden): If the
DAV:checkout-fork property of the version being checked out is
DAV:forbidden, the request MUST fail if a version identifies that
version in its DAV:predecessor-set.
(DAV:checkout-of-version-with-descendant-is-discouraged): If the
DAV:checkout-fork property of the version being checked out is
DAV:discouraged, the request MUST fail if a version identifies that
version in its DAV:predecessor-set unless DAV:fork-ok is specified
in the request body.
(DAV:checkout-of-checked-out-version-is-forbidden): If the
DAV:checkout-fork property of the version being checked out is
DAV:forbidden, the request MUST fail if a checked-out resource
identifies that version in its DAV:checked-out property.
(DAV:checkout-of-checked-out-version-is-discouraged): If the
DAV:checkout-fork property of the version being checked out is
DAV:discouraged, the request MUST fail if a checked-out resource
identifies that version in its DAV:checked-out property unless
DAV:fork-ok is specified in the request body.
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Postconditions:
(DAV:is-checked-out): The checked-out resource MUST have a
DAV:checked-out property that identifies the DAV:checked-in version
preceding the checkout. The version-controlled resource MUST NOT
have a DAV:checked-in property.
(DAV:initialize-predecessor-set): The DAV:predecessor-set property
of the checked-out resource MUST be initialized to be the
DAV:checked-out version.
4.3.1 Example - CHECKOUT of a version-controlled resource
>>REQUEST
CHECKOUT /foo.html HTTP/1.1
Host: www.webdav.org
Content-Length: 0
>>RESPONSE
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Cache-Control: no-cache
In this example, the version-controlled resource /foo.html is
checked out.
4.4 CHECKIN Method (applied to a version-controlled resource)
A CHECKIN request can be applied to a checked-out version-
controlled resource to produce a new version whose content and dead
properties are copied from the checked-out resource.
If a CHECKIN request fails, the server state preceding the request
MUST be restored.
Marshalling:
If a request body is included, it MUST be a DAV:checkin XML
element.
ANY value: A sequence of elements with at most one DAV:keep-
checked-out element and at most one DAV:fork-ok element.
If a response body is included, it MUST be a DAV:checkin-response
XML element.
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The response to a successful request MUST include a Location header
containing the URL for the new version created by the checkin.
The response MUST include a Cache-Control:no-cache header.
Preconditions:
(DAV:must-be-checked-out): The request-URL MUST identify a resource
with a DAV:checked-out property.
(DAV:version-history-is-tree) The versions identified by the
DAV:predecessor-set of the checked-out resource MUST be descendants
of the root version of the version history for the DAV:checked-out
version.
(DAV:checkin-fork-forbidden): A CHECKIN request MUST fail if it
would cause a version whose DAV:checkin-fork is DAV:forbidden to
appear in the DAV:predecessor-set of more than one version.
(DAV:checkin-fork-discouraged): A CHECKIN request MUST fail if it
would cause a version whose DAV:checkin-fork is DAV:discouraged to
appear in the DAV:predecessor-set of more than one version, unless
DAV:fork-ok is specified in the request body.
Postconditions:
(DAV:create-version): The request MUST have created a new version
in the version history of the DAV:checked-out version. The request
MUST have allocated a distinct new URL for the new version, and
that URL MUST NOT ever identify any resource other than that
version. The URL for the new version MUST be returned in a Location
response header.
(DAV:initialize-version-content-and-properties): The content, dead
properties, DAV:resourcetype, and DAV:predecessor-set of the new
version MUST be copied from the checked-out resource. The
DAV:version-name of the new version MUST be set to a server-defined
value distinct from all other DAV:version-name values of other
versions in the same version history.
(DAV:checked-in): If the request-URL identifies a version-
controlled resource and DAV:keep-checked-out is not specified in
the request body, the DAV:checked-out property of the version-
controlled resource MUST have been removed and a DAV:checked-in
property that identifies the new version MUST have been added.
(DAV:keep-checked-out): If DAV:keep-checked-out is specified in the
request body, the DAV:checked-out property of the checked-out
resource MUST have been updated to identify the new version.
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4.4.1 Example - CHECKIN
>>REQUEST
CHECKIN /foo.html HTTP/1.1
Host: www.webdav.org
Content-Length: 0
>>RESPONSE
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Location: http://repo.webdav.org/his/23/ver/32
Cache-Control: no-cache
In this example, version-controlled resource /foo.html is checked
in, and a new version is created at
http://repo.webdav.org/his/23/ver/32.
4.5 UNCHECKOUT Method
An UNCHECKOUT request can be applied to a checked-out version-
controlled resource to cancel the CHECKOUT and restore the pre-
CHECKOUT state of the version-controlled resource.
If an UNCHECKOUT request fails, the server MUST undo any partial
effects of the UNCHECKOUT request.
Marshalling:
If a request body is included, it MUST be a DAV:uncheckout XML
element.
If a response body is included, it MUST be a DAV:uncheckout-
response XML element.
The response MUST include a Cache-Control:no-cache header.
Preconditions:
(DAV:must-be-checked-out-version-controlled-resource): The request-
URL MUST identify a version-controlled resource with a DAV:checked-
out property.
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Postconditions:
(DAV:cancel-checked-out): The value of the DAV:checked-in property
is that of the DAV:checked-out property prior to the request, and
the DAV:checked-out property has been removed.
(DAV:restore-content-and-dead-properties): The content and dead
properties of the version-controlled resource are copies of its
DAV:checked-in version.
4.5.1 Example - UNCHECKOUT
>>REQUEST
UNCHECKOUT /foo.html HTTP/1.1
Host: www.webdav.org
Content-Length: 0
>>RESPONSE
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Cache-Control: no-cache
In this example, the content and dead properties of the version-
controlled resource identified by http://www.webdav.org/foo.html
are restored to their values preceding the most recent CHECKOUT of
that version-controlled resource.
4.6 Additional OPTIONS Semantics
If a server supports the checkout-in-place feature, it MUST include
"checkout-in-place" as a field in the DAV response header from an
OPTIONS request on any resource that supports any versioning
properties, reports, or methods.
5 VERSION-HISTORY FEATURE
It is often useful to have access to a version history even after
all version-controlled resources for that version history have been
deleted. A server can provide this functionality by supporting
version history resources. A version history resource is a
resource that exists in a server defined namespace and therefore is
unaffected by any deletion or movement of version-controlled
resources. A version history resource is an appropriate place to
add a property that logically applies to all states of a resource.
The DAV:expand-property report (see Section 3.8) can be applied to
the DAV:version-set of a version history resource to provide a
variety of useful reports on all versions in that version history.
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5.1 Version History Properties
The DAV:resourcetype of a version history MUST be DAV:version-
history.
The version-history feature introduces the following REQUIRED
properties for a version history.
5.1.1 DAV:version-set (protected)
This property identifies each version of this version history.
5.1.2 DAV:root-version (computed)
This property identifies the root version of this version history.
5.2 Additional Version-Controlled Resource Properties
The version-history feature introduces the following REQUIRED
property for a version-controlled resource.
5.2.1 DAV:version-history (computed)
This property identifies the version history resource for the
DAV:checked-in or DAV:checked-out version of this version-
controlled resource.
5.3 Additional Version Properties
The version-history feature introduces the following REQUIRED
property for a version.
5.3.1 DAV:version-history (computed)
This property identifies the version history that contains this
version.
5.4 DAV:locate-by-history Report
Many properties identify a version from some version history. It
is often useful to be able to efficiently locate a version-
controlled resource for that version history. The DAV:locate-by-
history report can be applied to a collection to locate the
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collection member that is a version-controlled resource for a
specified version history resource.
Marshalling:
The request body MUST be a DAV:locate-by-history XML element.
prop: see RFC 2518, Section 12.11
The response body for a successful request MUST be a
DAV:multistatus XML element containing every version-controlled
resource that is a member of the collection identified by the
request-URL, and whose DAV:version-history property identifies one
of the version history resources identified by the request body.
The DAV:prop element in the request body identifies which
properties should be reported in the DAV:prop elements in the
response body.
Preconditions:
(DAV:must-be-version-history): Each member of the DAV:version-
history-set element in the request body MUST identify a version
history resource.
5.4.1 Example - DAV:locate-by-history Report
>>REQUEST
REPORT /ws/public HTTP/1.1
Host: www.webdav.org
Content-Type: text/xml; charset="utf-8"
Content-Length: xxxx
http://repo.webdav.org/his/23
http://repo.webdav.org/his/84
http://repo.webdav.org/his/129
>>RESPONSE
HTTP/1.1 207 Multi-Status
Content-Type: text/xml; charset="utf-8"
Content-Length: xxxx
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http://www.webdav.org/ws/public/x/test.html
http://repo.webdav.org/his/23
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
In this example, there is only one version-controlled member of
/ws/public that is a version-controlled resource for one of the
three specified version history resources. In particular,
/ws/public/x/test.html is the version-controlled resource for
http://repo.webdav.org/his/23.
5.5 Additional OPTIONS Semantics
If the server supports the version-history feature, it MUST include
"version-history" as a field in the DAV response header from an
OPTIONS request on any resource that supports any versioning
properties, reports, or methods.
A DAV:version-history-collection-set element MAY be included in the
request body to identify collections that may contain version
history resources.
Additional Marshalling:
If an XML request body is included, it MUST be a DAV:options XML
element.
ANY value: A sequence of elements with at most one DAV:version-
history-collection-set element.
If an XML response body for a successful request is included, it
MUST be a DAV:options-response XML element.
ANY value: A sequence of elements with at most one DAV:version-
history-collection-set element.
If DAV:version-history-collection-set is included in the request
body, the response body for a successful request MUST contain a
DAV:version-history-collection-set element identifying collections
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that may contain version histories. An identified collection MAY
be the root collection of a tree of collections, all of which may
contain version histories. Since different servers can control
different parts of the URL namespace, different resources on the
same host MAY have different DAV:version-history-collection-set
values. The identified collections MAY be located on different
hosts from the resource.
5.6 Additional DELETE Semantics
Additional Postconditions:
(DAV:delete-version-set): If the request deleted a version history,
the request MUST have deleted all versions in the DAV:version-set
of that version history, and MUST have satisfied the
postconditions for version deletion (see Section 3.13).
(DAV:version-history-has-root): If the request deleted the root
version of a version history, the request MUST have updated the
DAV:root-version of the version history to refer to another version
that is an ancestor of all other remaining versions in that version
history. A result of this postcondition is that every version
history will have at least one version, and the only way to delete
all versions is to delete the version history resource.
5.7 Additional COPY Semantics
Additional Preconditions:
(DAV:cannot-copy-history): If the request-URL identifies a version
history, the request MUST fail. In order to create another version
history whose versions have the same content and dead properties,
the appropriate sequence of VERSION-CONTROL, CHECKOUT, PUT,
PROPPATCH, and CHECKIN requests must be made.
5.8 Additional MOVE Semantics
Additional Preconditions:
(DAV:cannot-rename-history): If the request-URL identifies a
version history, the request MUST fail.
5.9 Additional VERSION-CONTROL Semantics
Additional Postconditions:
(DAV:new-version-history): If the request created a new version
history, the request MUST have allocated a new server-defined URL
for that version history that MUST NOT have previously identified
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any other resource, and MUST NOT ever identify a resource other
than this version history.
5.10 Additional CHECKIN Semantics
Additional Postconditions:
(DAV:add-to-history): A URL for the new version resource MUST have
been added to the DAV:version-set of the version history of the
DAV:checked-out version.
6 WORKSPACE FEATURE
In order to allow multiple users to work concurrently on adding
versions to the same version history, it is necessary to allocate
on the server multiple checked-out resources for the same version
history. Even if only one user is making changes to a resource,
that user will sometimes wish to create a "private" version, and
then to expose that version at a later time. One way to provide
this functionality depends on the client keeping track of its
current set of checked-out resources. This is the working-resource
feature defined in Section 8. The other way to provide this
functionality avoids the need for persistent state on the client,
and instead has the server maintain a human meaningful namespace
for related sets of checked-out resources. This is the workspace
feature defined in this section.
The workspace feature introduces a "workspace resource". A
workspace resource is a collection whose members are related
version-controlled and non-version-controlled resources. Multiple
workspaces may be used to expose different versions and
configurations of a set of version-controlled resources
concurrently. In order to make changes to a version-controlled
resource in one workspace visible in another workspace, that
version-controlled resource must be checked in, and then the
corresponding version-controlled resource in the other workspace
can be updated to display the content and dead properties of the
new version.
In order to ensure unambiguous merging (see Section 11) and
baselining (see Section 12) semantics, a workspace may contain at
most one version-controlled resource for a given version history.
This is required for unambiguous merging because the MERGE method
must identify which version-controlled resource is to be the merge
target of a given version. This is required for unambiguous
baselining because a baseline can only select one version for a
given version-controlled resource.
Initially, an empty workspace can be created. Non-version-
controlled resources can then be added to the workspace with
standard WebDAV requests such as PUT and MKCOL. Version-controlled
resources can be added to the workspace with VERSION-CONTROL
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requests. If the baseline feature is supported, collections in the
workspace can be placed under baseline control, and then
initialized by existing baselines.
6.1 Workspace Properties
The workspace feature introduces the following REQUIRED property
for a workspace.
6.1.1 DAV:workspace-checkout-set (computed)
This property identifies each checked-out resource whose
DAV:workspace property identifies this workspace.
6.2 Additional Resource Properties
The workspace feature introduces the following REQUIRED property
for a WebDAV resource.
6.2.1 DAV:workspace (protected)
The DAV:workspace property of a workspace resource MUST identify
itself. The DAV:workspace property of any other type of resource
MUST be the same as the DAV:workspace of its parent collection.
6.3 MKWORKSPACE Method
A MKWORKSPACE request creates a new workspace resource. A server
MAY restrict workspace creation to particular collections, but a
client can determine the location of these collections from a
DAV:workspace-collection-set OPTIONS request (see Section 6.4).
If a MKWORKSPACE request fails, the server state preceding the
request MUST be restored.
Marshalling:
If a request body is included, it MUST be a DAV:mkworkspace XML
element.
If a response body is included, it MUST be a DAV:mkworkspace-
response XML element.
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The response MUST include a Cache-Control:no-cache header.
Preconditions:
(DAV:resource-must-be-null): A resource MUST NOT exist at the
request-URL.
(DAV:workspace-location-ok): The request-URL MUST identify a
location where a workspace can be created.
Postconditions:
(DAV:initialize-workspace): A new workspace exists at the request-
URL. The DAV:resourcetype of the workspace MUST be DAV:collection.
The DAV:workspace of the workspace MUST identify the workspace.
6.3.1 Example - MKWORKSPACE
>>REQUEST
MKWORKSPACE /ws/public HTTP/1.1
Host: www.webdav.org
Content-Length: 0
>>RESPONSE
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Cache-Control: no-cache
In this example, a new workspace is created at
http://www.webdav.org/ws/public.
6.4 Additional OPTIONS Semantics
If a server supports the workspace feature, it MUST include
"workspace" as a field in the DAV response header from an OPTIONS
request on any resource that supports any versioning properties,
reports, or methods.
If a server supports the workspace feature, it MUST also support
the checkout-in-place feature and the version-history feature.
A DAV:workspace-collection-set element MAY be included in the
request body to identify collections that may contain workspace
resources.
Additional Marshalling:
If an XML request body is included, it MUST be a DAV:options XML
element.
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ANY value: A sequence of elements with at most one DAV:workspace-
collection-set element.
If an XML response body for a successful request is included, it
MUST be a DAV:options-response XML element.
ANY value: A sequence of elements with at most one DAV:workspace-
collection-set element.
If DAV:workspace-collection-set is included in the request body,
the response body for a successful request MUST contain a
DAV:workspace-collection-set element identifying collections that
may contain workspaces. An identified collection MAY be the root
collection of a tree of collections, all of which may contain
workspaces. Since different servers can control different parts of
the URL namespace, different resources on the same host MAY have
different DAV:workspace-collection-set values. The identified
collections MAY be located on different hosts from the resource.
6.4.1 Example - OPTIONS
>>REQUEST
OPTIONS /doc HTTP/1.1
Host: www.webdav.org
Content-Type: text/xml; charset="utf-8"
Content-Length: xxxx
>>RESPONSE
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
DAV: 1
DAV: version-control,checkout-in-place,version-history,workspace
Content-Type: text/xml; charset="utf-8"
Content-Length: xxxx
http://repo.webdav.org/his
http://www.webdav.org/public/ws
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http://www.webdav.org/private/ws
In this example, the server indicates that it provides Class 1 DAV
support and basic-server-workspace versioning support. In
addition, the server indicates the requested locations of the
version history resources and the workspace resources.
6.5 Additional DELETE Semantics
Additional Postconditions:
(DAV:delete-workspace-members): If a workspace is deleted, any
resource that identifies that workspace in its DAV:workspace
property MUST be deleted.
6.6 Additional MOVE Semantics
Additional Postconditions:
(DAV:workspace-member-moved): If the request-URL did not identify a
workspace, the DAV:workspace of the destination MUST have been
updated to have the same value as the DAV:workspace of the parent
collection of the destination.
(DAV:workspace-moved): If the request-URL identified a workspace,
any reference to that workspace in a DAV:workspace property MUST
have been updated to refer to the new location of that workspace.
6.7 Additional VERSION-CONTROL Semantics
A VERSION-CONTROL request can be used to create a new version-
controlled resource for an existing version history. This allows
the creation of version-controlled resources for the same version
history in multiple workspaces.
Additional Marshalling:
ANY value: A sequence of elements with at most one DAV:version
element.
Additional Preconditions:
(DAV:cannot-add-to-existing-history): If the DAV:version-control
request body element contains a DAV:version element, the request-
URL MUST NOT identify a resource.
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(DAV:must-be-version): The DAV:href of the DAV:version element MUST
identify a version.
(DAV:one-version-controlled-resource-per-history-per-workspace): If
the DAV:version-control request body specifies a version, and if
the request-URL is a member of a workspace, then there MUST NOT
already be a version-controlled member of that workspace whose
DAV:checked-in or DAV:checked-out property identifies any version
from the version history of the version specified in the request
body.
Additional Postconditions:
(DAV:new-version-controlled-resource): If the request-URL did NOT
identify a resource, a new version-controlled resource exists at
the request-URL whose content and dead properties are initialized
by those of the version in the request body, and whose DAV:checked-
in property identifies that version.
6.7.1 Example - VERSION-CONTROL (using an existing version history)
>>REQUEST
VERSION-CONTROL /ws/public/bar.html HTTP/1.1
Host: www.webdav.org
Content-Type: text/xml; charset="utf-8"
Content-Length: xxxx
http://repo.webdav.org/his/12/ver/V3
>>RESPONSE
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Cache-Control: no-cache
In this example, a new version-controlled resource is created at
/ws/public/bar.html. The content and dead properties of the new
version-controlled resource are initialized to be the same as those
of the version identified by http://repo.webdav.org/his/12/ver/V3.
7 UPDATE FEATURE
The update feature provides a mechanism for changing the state of a
checked-in version-controlled resource to be that of another
version from the version history of that resource.
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7.1 UPDATE Method
The UPDATE method modifies the content and dead properties of a
checked-in version-controlled resource (the "update target") to be
those of a specified version (the "update source") from the version
history of that version-controlled resource.
The response to an UPDATE request identifies the resources modified
by the request, so that a client can efficiently update any cached
state it is maintaining. Extensions to the UPDATE method allow
multiple resources to be modified from a single UPDATE request (see
Section 12.13).
Marshalling:
The request body MUST be a DAV:update element.
ANY value: A sequence of elements with at most one DAV:version
element and at most one DAV:prop element.
prop: see RFC 2518, Section 12.11
The response for a successful request MUST be a 207 Multi-Status,
where the DAV:multistatus XML element in the response body
identifies all resources that have been modified by the request.
multistatus: see RFC 2518, Section 12.9
The response MUST include a Cache-Control:no-cache header.
Postconditions:
(DAV:update-content-and-properties): If the DAV:version element in
the request body identified a version that is in the same version
history as the DAV:checked-in version of a version-controlled
resource identified by the request-URL, then the content and dead
properties of that version-controlled resource MUST be the same as
those of the version specified by the DAV:version element, and the
DAV:checked-in property of the version-controlled resource MUST
identify that version. The request-URL MUST appear in a
DAV:response element in the response body.
(DAV:report-properties): If DAV:prop is specified in the request
body, the properties specified in the DAV:prop element MUST be
reported in the DAV:response elements in the response body.
7.1.1 Example - UPDATE
>>REQUEST
UPDATE /foo.html HTTP/1.1
Host: www.webdav.org
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Content-type: text/xml; charset="utf-8"
Content-Length: xxxx
http://repo.webdav.org/his/23/ver/33
>>RESPONSE
HTTP/1.1 207 Multi-Status
Content-Type: text/xml; charset="utf-8"
Content-Length: xxxx
Cache-Control: no-cache
http://www.webdav.org/foo.html
In this example, the content and dead properties of
http://repo.webdav.org/his/23/ver/33 are copied to the version-
controlled resource /foo.html, and the DAV:checked-in property of
/foo.html is updated to refer to
http://repo.webdav.org/his/23/ver/33.
7.2 Additional OPTIONS Semantics
If the server supports the update feature, it MUST include "update"
as a field in the DAV response header from an OPTIONS request on
any resource that supports any versioning properties, reports, or
methods.
8 LABEL FEATURE
A version "label" is a string that distinguishes one version in a
version history from all other versions in that version history. A
label can automatically be assigned by a server, or it can be
assigned by a client in order to provide a meaningful name for that
version. A given version label can be assigned to at most one
version of a given version history, but client assigned labels can
be reassigned to another version at any time. Note that although a
given label can be applied to at most one version from the same
version history, the same label can be applied to versions from
different version histories.
For certain methods, if the request-URL identifies a version-
controlled resource, a label can be specified in a Label request
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header (see Section 8.3) to cause the method to be applied to the
version selected by that label from the version history of that
version-controlled resource.
8.1 Additional Version Properties
The label feature introduces the following REQUIRED property for a
version.
8.1.1 DAV:label-name-set (protected)
This property contains the labels that currently select this
version.
PCDATA value: string
8.2 LABEL Method
A LABEL request can be applied to a version to modify the labels
that select that version. The case of a label name MUST be
preserved when it is stored and retrieved. When comparing two
label names to decide if they match or not, a server SHOULD use a
case-sensitive octet-by-octet comparison of the two label names.
If a LABEL request is applied to a checked in version-controlled
resource, the operation MUST be applied to the DAV:checked-in
version of that version-controlled resource.
Marshalling:
The request body MUST be a DAV:label element.
ANY value: A sequence of elements with at most one DAV:add,
DAV:set, or DAV:remove element.
PCDATA value: string
The request MAY include a Label header.
The request MAY include a Depth header. If no Depth header is
included, Depth:0 is assumed. Standard depth semantics apply, and
the request is applied to the collection identified by the request-
URL and to all members of the collection that satisfy the Depth
value. If a Depth header is included and the request fails on any
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resource, the response MUST be a 207 Multi-Status that identifies
all resources for which the request has failed.
If a response body is included, it MUST be a DAV:label-response XML
element.
The response MUST include a Cache-Control:no-cache header.
Preconditions:
(DAV:must-be-checked-in): If the request-URL identifies a version-
controlled resource, the version-controlled resource MUST be
checked in.
(DAV:must-select-version-in-history): If a Label request header is
included and the request-URL identifies a version-controlled
resource, the specified label MUST select a version in the version
history of the version-controlled resource.
(DAV:add-must-be-new-label): If DAV:add is specified in the request
body, the specified label MUST NOT appear in the DAV:label-name-set
of any version in the version history of that version-controlled
resource.
(DAV:label-must-exist): If DAV:remove is specified in the request
body, the specified label MUST appear in the DAV:label-name-set of
that version.
Postconditions:
(DAV:add-or-set-label): If DAV:add or DAV:set is specified in the
request body, the specified label MUST appear in the DAV:label-
name-set of the specified version, and MUST NOT appear in the
DAV:label-name-set of any other version in the version history of
that version.
(DAV:remove-label): If DAV:remove is specified in the request body,
the specified label MUST NOT appear in the DAV:label-name-set of
any version in the version history of that version.
8.2.1 Example - Setting a label
>>REQUEST
LABEL /foo.html HTTP/1.1
Host: www.webdav.org
Content-type: text/xml; charset="utf-8"
Content-Length: xxxx
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default
>>RESPONSE
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Cache-Control: no-cache
In this example, the label "default" is applied to the DAV:checked-
in version of /foo.html.
8.3 Label Header
For certain methods (e.g. GET, PROPFIND), if the request-URL
identifies a version-controlled resource, a label can be specified
in a Label request header to cause the method to be applied to the
version selected by that label from the version history of that
version-controlled resource.
The value of a label header is the name of a label, encoded using
UTF-8. For example, the label "release-2.0" is identified by the
following header:
Label: release-2.0
A Label header MUST have no effect on a request whose request-URL
does not identify a version-controlled resource. In particular, it
MUST have no effect on a request whose request-URL identifies a
version or a version history.
A server MUST return an HTTP-1.1 Vary header containing Label in a
successful response to a cacheable request (e.g. GET) that includes
a Label header.
8.4 Additional OPTIONS Semantics
If the server supports the label feature, it MUST include "label"
as a field in the DAV response header from an OPTIONS request on
any resource that supports any versioning properties, reports, or
methods.
8.5 Additional GET Semantics
Additional Marshalling:
The request MAY include a Label header.
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Additional Preconditions:
(DAV:must-select-version-in-history): If a Label request header is
included and the request-URL identifies a version-controlled
resource, the specified label MUST select a version in the version
history of the version-controlled resource.
Additional Postconditions:
(DAV:apply-request-to-labeled-version): If the request-URL
identifies a version-controlled resource and a Label request header
is included, the response MUST contain the content of the specified
version rather than that of the version-controlled resource.
8.6 Additional PROPFIND Semantics
Additional Marshalling:
The request MAY include a Label header.
Additional Preconditions:
(DAV:must-select-version-in-history): If a Label request header is
included and the request-URL identifies a version-controlled
resource, the specified label MUST select a version in the version
history of the version-controlled resource.
Additional Postconditions:
(DAV:apply-request-to-labeled-version): If the request-URL
identifies a version-controlled resource and a Label request header
is included, the response MUST contain the properties of the
specified version rather than that of the version-controlled
resource.
8.7 Additional COPY Semantics
Additional Marshalling:
The request MAY include a Label header.
Additional Preconditions:
(DAV:must-select-version-in-history): If a Label request header is
included and the request-URL identifies a version-controlled
resource, the specified label MUST select a version in the version
history of the version-controlled resource.
Additional Postconditions:
(DAV:apply-request-to-labeled-version): If the request-URL
identifies a version-controlled resource and a Label request header
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is included, the request MUST have copied the properties and
content of the specified version rather than that of the version-
controlled resource.
8.8 Additional CHECKOUT Semantics
If the server supports the working-resource option, a LABEL header
may be included to check out the version selected by the specified
label.
Additional Marshalling:
The request MAY include a Label header.
Additional Preconditions:
(DAV:must-select-version-in-history): If a Label request header is
included and the request-URL identifies a version-controlled
resource, the specified label MUST select a version in the version
history of the version-controlled resource.
(DAV:must-not-have-label-and-apply-to-version): If a Label request
header is included, the request body MUST NOT contain a DAV:apply-
to-version element.
Additional Postconditions:
(DAV:apply-request-to-labeled-version): If the request-URL
identifies a checked-in version-controlled resource, and a Label
request header is included, the CHECKOUT MUST have been applied to
the version selected by the specified label, and not to the
version-controlled resource itself.
8.9 Additional UPDATE Semantics
If the request body of an UPDATE request contains a DAV:label-name
element, the update target is the resource identified by the
request-URL, and the update source is the version selected by the
specified label from the version history of the update target.
Additional Marshalling:
ANY value: A sequence of elements with at most one DAV:label-name
or DAV:version element (but not both).
PCDATA value: string
The request MAY include a Depth header. If no Depth header is
included, Depth:0 is assumed. Standard depth semantics apply, and
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the request is applied to the collection identified by the request-
URL and to all members of the collection that satisfy the Depth
value. If a Depth header is included and the request fails on any
resource, the response MUST be a 207 Multi-Status that identifies
all resources for which the request has failed.
Additional Preconditions:
(DAV:must-select-version-in-history): If the request includes a
DAV:label-name element in the request body, the label MUST select a
version in the version history of the version-controlled resource
identified by the request-URL.
(DAV:depth-update): If the request includes a Depth header,
standard depth semantics apply, and the request is applied to the
collection identified by the request-URL and to all members of the
collection that satisfy the Depth value. The request MUST be
applied to a collection before being applied to any members of that
collection, since an update of a version-controlled collection
might change the membership of that collection.
Additional Postconditions:
(DAV:apply-request-to-labeled-version): If a DAV:label-name element
appears in the request body, the content and dead properties of the
version-controlled resource must have been updated to be those of
the version selected by that label.
9 WORKING-RESOURCE FEATURE
The working-resource feature provides an alternative to the
workspace feature for supporting parallel development. Unlike the
workspace feature, where the desired configuration of versions and
checked