View the current specification draft (in work):
These documents are automatically compiled from the source (kramdown-rfc):
WebDAV is an open HTTP- and XML- based protocol that is widely adopted and can be used for remote file access (read/write). It has a wide range of usages from browsing folders and uploading files over the Internet with a desktop or mobile file manager (like FTP, but better) to specific protocols that define their own properties and use (virtual) files for data exchange.
Two of these specific WebDAV-based protocols are CalDAV and CardDAV. They allow to access calendars (events, tasks, journal entries, free/busy information, …) and contacts in a standardized way. Because they're open standards, a lot of different servers and clients can be used to work together (no vendor lock-in).
However, these protocols don't come with support for "Push", so there's no way for servers to notify clients about new/updated data. So,
- a file manager won't update its view of a folder automatically when a file in this folder is added/changed/removed, and
- a CalDAV/CardDAV client has to ask the server for changes in regular intervals (polling), which causes unnecessary server load, bad user experience and useless energy usage (especially bad for mobile devices).
WebDAV is however extensible and it's possible to add new properties and mechanisms to it. So we want to create WebDAV-Push, so that users can receive updated data whenever they're available.
This is especially important for CalDAV/CardDAV, where we want to bring (near-)real-time synchronization (which is nowadays industry standard for proprietary protocols) also to CalDAV/CardDAV clients.
Our goal is to draft a document defining WebDAV Push.
It will be mainly based on Web Push (RFC 8030), but open for other push transports.
Currently, the main organizations / people behind WebDAV Push are:
- @bitfireAT (developers of DAVx⁵) – very interested in developing Push for WebDAV, especially CalDAV/CardDAV
- @verdigado – interested in using CalDAV/CardDAV push
Specification Draft is finished and seems to be working quite nicely for different implementations.
We implemented it in DAVx⁵: Push providers (FCM or @UnifiedPush can be chosen via the DAVx⁵ settings (bottom).
Available on these servers:
| Name | WebDAV Push Support | Product type |
|---|---|---|
| DAVx⁵ | Yes | Client |
| Nextcloud | Yes (via NC app: dav_push) | Server |
| Xandikos | Yes | Server |
| rustical | Yes | Server |
| Chiri | Yes | Client |
| Open Xchange | Yes | Server |
| KDE PIM | planned | Client |
A lot of people have shown their interest in WebDAV-Push. Thank you for all ideas and encouragement!
If you're interested:
- have a look at the specification draft and tell us your ideas
- take part in our Discussions – feel free to create new topics with your ideas, questions, what you would love to see, …
- join our Matrix channel: #webdav-push:matrix.org
- watch @davx5@fosstodon.org, where we sometimes post Push-related news too
We would love to see some activity!
The repository contains:
- a specification draft describing our current idea of WebDAV-Push (see above)
- discussion and exchange about the WebDAV Push topic (in Discussions)
- specific tasks (in Issues) and related patches (in Pull requests)