WebDav State of Play?

Developers
#1

There are some lengthy and technical threads in relation to using WebDav to host tiddlywikis, I just tried to find if there was a working implementation or one “coming soon”, unfortunately existing threads are very complex.

It seems that if we had a mature solution WebDav would allow;

  • Distributing working local tiddlywiki applications, easy install for new users
    • Including the ability to publish a tiddlywiki solution that can be installed locally in a simple package.
  • Hosting TiddlyWiki on a WebDav Host locally or on the internet (without the complexities of node and GitHub)
  • Allow a local install to use the “File Uploads plugin”, external files or other methods, so as to import media that is saved as separate files in the local server and not the wiki, allowing substantial content to be placed in a Wiki such as image, video and audio.
    • This also allows people to build large private (or LAN sharable, or by VPN) solutions on top of cheap local storage.

It is however hard to determine the State of Play, have “the wanted core changes being implemented”? what next? preferred methods?, what can we do to help?

Do we need some direction from @jeremyruston or others to move forward?

I believe the problems we expect to solve with WebDav are substantial and will break long held limitations to adoption and expanded use of TiddlyWiki.

  • Installable / distributable solutions
  • Leverage local resources
  • Make full use of modern browsers
  • Installable local server even newbies can use.
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#2

I wasn’t aware that anything was needed in the TiddlyWiki core. You serve up a directory via webdav, and TW files can automatically save.

IMO, the easiest way to run webdav for personal use is via Rclone. It’s a simple executable that you download. You just cd into the directory you want, and give a short command. I’ve been using it this way for months and it’s been very reliable. It’s even easier on Android with the RCX app, since you don’t even need to use a command line. Certain for-pay cloud-hosting services also offer webdav services. The files uploads plugin worked well, but it’s unclear if Saq will be maintaining it. Then again, maybe it doesn’t need much maintenance.

Most of the long form instructions you’ve seen have probably related to IIS, which is a bit of a behemoth. I suppose if you know what you’re doing the IIS version could be internet -facing, but otherwise I’m not sure what it provides that you need for personal use.

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#3

I use it myself on a near daily basis. It will be maintained with regards to bug fixes and compatibility with new core versions, albeit work on any new features might be limited. I am also hopeful that it will not need much maintenance.

#4

So now we need to document the set up and use for all levels of knowledge including packaging solutions on top of it.

  • If you look through past discussions there were a lot of good ideas that can be implemented.
  • What preferences and expierences have people found useful and shall we document for a broader audience?
#5

I was about to put the pieces together to explain to Tony how it worked, when I realized that there doesn’t seem to be an official (or beta) home for the webdav plugin required to work with the file uploader plugin. I’m not sure if that is intentional or not. Where should people look for the (I know, beta) official webdav upload plugin?

#6

I am not sure what you mean by official here. If you mean somehow core affiliated or a Commons plugin like the FileUploads plugin itself, there is no such thing. In fact I’m not really sure what WebDAV functionality this thread is about as there are no concrete references, perhaps something I’m unaware of?

My webdav-utils plugin that I primarily wrote for myself, and that you helped test, includes a webdav uploader module amongst other things, and there should be a link in that thread if that helps.

Please excuse the brevity, away from my desk.

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#7

Consider it a call for references, a summary of the state of play, I could not find any practical instructions for anyone to use, just a whole lot of discussions with lots of information.

  • I hope to make this method more accessible to a broad audience.
#8

Oh sure, I could find it – wasn’t sure if you wanted it shared though since we were testing.