Topic: Webdav on e-smith 6

[Anonymous]

I am trying to set up a shared calendar system using Mozilla (and yes - I've tried all the web-based calendar, and found none of them to be suitable), and to do this I need to install the webdav extensions to the server.

Has anyone managed to install webdav? I've searched and searched, but many threads are asking 'how?', but none seem to provide an answer.

I've found an RPM (apache-mod_dav-1.0.3-5.i386.rpm), but it needs some extra modules or libraries or something - but I'm not sure what. The error I am getting at the moment is:

apache(EAPI) >= 1.3.6 is needed by apache-mod_dav-1.0.3-5

Any idea what EAPI is, and where I can get it from?

It is a shame this is turning out to be so difficult (I've been working on this for a week now), as the webdav protocol and code looks so simple.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-- Jason

[Anonymous]

apache(EAPI) >= 1.3.6 is needed by apache-mod_dav-1.0.3-5

Is that error telling me I need to install some other RPM (I've installed the devtools pack already) or does it mean Apache must be relinked or recompiled with some new option?

-- Jason

[Anonymous]

Or do I just need a later version of Apache?

I'm not surprised most companies pay big bucks to install MS Exchange just for sharing diary functions. It just installs and works. Setting up webdav under e-smith is a total nightmare. I'm sure someone who knows what they are doing will tell me it is easy - but that would miss the point.

[Anonymous]

Or maybe Apache is just in the wrong place for the EAPI to be recoginised?

[Anonymous]

Okay - I'm getting closer. Having forced the webdav RPM to install (it consists of just a single library) by ensuring no dependancies are checked and all scripts are turned off, it finally seems to work.

It has taken some fiddling of the apache scripts, and I'm just using the non-SSL side at the moment. The easiest way to set it up seems to be to configure an i-bay with the passwords etc that you want, then add the 'Dav On' directive to the i-bay settings in httpd.conf.

I just need to work out how to set this up through the templates now, so it doesn't get lost each time an admin change is made. Rather than an i-bay, I will probably copy the relevant settings to a new custom template, so a 'hidden' http share is created (i.e. hidden from the normal admin screens). I guess in the longer term, an option in each i-bay modify screen could allow webdav services to be switched on and off for that i-bay.

I have no idea how secure this is, but for a closed internal network, it is ideal. I don't know if I will get to create a full HOWTO, but contact me if you are interested in setting up webdav on your e-smith server, and given enough interest I will put together some better instructions.

-- Jason
(e-smith at acadweb.co.uk)

[mbachmann]

Yes, me. I want it. Go, Jason, go. Please write a short condensed howto, that would be VERY much appreciated!

[Anonymous]

I've received two direct enquiries, and have forwarded instructions on to them. When I get some feedback, I'll hopefully be able to put some better instructions together.

One thing that may be a security issue, is that you cannot apply user-authentication to an i-bay through HTTP. You can do it through SAMBA, so different users have different rights when accessing or mouting a SAMBA share, but not with a web share. There is no reason why it cannot be done from a technical perspective, so perhaps some future module will support it. But for now, it does mean that all clients reading and writing a webdav share in an i-bay will be using the same username (i.e. the i-bay name) and password.

Apart from that, it works well

-- JJ

[mbachmann]

Using the same pw for all users seems not a major issue to me as long as webdav's purpose is to share information.

[Anonymous]

Using the same pw for all users seems not a major issue to me as long as webdav's purpose is to share information.

It depends on who you want to share it with. If you are running a distributed project between a team of people, the ability to enable and disable access to appropriate information is very important.

As you say - if you don't need it to be secure, then security is not an issue; if you do need it to be secure, the security is an issue

-- Jason

[Anonymous]

Also - you may want to restrict which users can write to a webdav share. Using the privileges provided by an i-bay to achieve this are a must, IMO. Users in privileged groups would be able to write to the webdav files (updating a shared calendar, for example) and non-privileged users would only be able to read, or may not see it at all.

Webdav is more than just sharing calendars though - it is a basic protocol to allow files to be read and *written* to an i-bay over the http protocol. To that end, it can be used for any kind of file sharing over a http link (it works through firewalls and suchlike).

-- Jason

[Jakeo]

HOWTO HOWTO HOWTO!

You clearly kick more ass at this than I do, but you're doing exactly what I am trying to, right down the the use of mozilla Calendar

Any advice you can give would be super appreciated

Richard

[haj]

http://no.longer.valid/phpwiki/index.php/How%20to%20install%20mod_dav

Don't forget to report your experience here:
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=21634.msg85530#msg85530

Cheers

[mbachmann]

I lost track of this but i promise to look into it soon and post comments on that.

Many thanks for your work, haj.