Real Time Logic (RTL) is shipping a WebDAV (beb-based distributed authoring and versioning) plug-in for its Linux-compatible, small-footprint embedded webserver. The WebDav plugin for the Barracuda server targets embedded developers looking for a convenient, cross-platform way to transfer files to… development targets.

(Click for larger view of Windows Explorer doing WebDAV)

WebDAV is a an IETF protocol that aims to make the web writable, as well as readable, true to Tim Berners-Lee's original vision, proponents say. WYSIWYG HTML editors often implement WebDAV in GUIs for uploading files to remote webservers, and WebDAV is also used by the Subversion version control system.

According to RTL, WebDAV can offer embedded developers a convenient, cross-platform way to transfer files to development targets. Compared to SMB and NFS, WebDAV supports mixed environments better, since WebDAV is “native” to both Windows and Mac OS, RTL says. Compared to FTP, WebDAV's stateless operation eliminates the need to re-authenticate frequently, for example after target crashes, the company adds.

RTL's Barracuda WebDAV plug-in supports operations that include read, write, delete, move, copy, make new directories, and set and get properties. Users can be authorized for each of these operations on a file-by-file basis, without any support from the underlying filesystem, RTL says.

Additional touted features and benefits of Barracuda's WebDAV plug-in include:

• Supports 256-bit AES SSL encryption
• Can use HTTP digest encrypted authentication
• Can bypass firewalls and proxies
• Faster than SMB and NFS over the Internet

Additionally, the Barracuda WebDAV plugin supports mounting ZIP archives and databases as filesystems, and multiple WebDAV instances can be combined to create virtual file systems.

Availability

The WebDAV plug-in for Barracuda appears to be available now. An “example program” demonstrating WebDAV functionality can be found here.

 
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