Paul Browning wrote:
--On 17 March 2004 15:33 +0000 John Poltorak <jp@warpix.org> wrote:
I'm still trying to work out how WEBDAV differs from an FTP filesystem driver...
Here's two differences:
1. File locking (that's the DA bit - Distributed Authoring - you don't stomp on other people's stuff).
2. Easily secured over SSL (no passwords in the clear)
3. Increasingly ftp is blocked at firewalls
Others are likely to extend this list ....
WebDAV is an extension to the HTTP protocol, and thus is REQUEST/RESPONSE based unlike FTP. (This can be more efficientalso allows it to be sneaky wrt firewalls.) A regular HTTP resource also maps to a WebDAV resource more directly than FTP. There's more, but you're right that they basically provide the same sort of service. Note that Zope treats them similarly. See also: http://webdav.org/other/faq.html --jcc -- "My point and period will be throughly wrought, Or well or ill, as this day's battle's fought."