Apache and WebDAV properties (mod_dav)

11 Jan

Ever got messages like this in your Apache logfiles, wondering why setting properties via a client on your (otherwise working) WebDAV is failing?

Could not open the property database.  [500, #205]
(2)No such file or directory: Could not open property database.  [500, #1]
(2)No such file or directory: Attempted to set/remove a property without a valid, open, read/write property database.  [500, #202]

Well, simply add a directory called “.DAV“ (note the leading dot!) to your WebDAV base-directory, that is writeable to the webserver. That’s where the corresponding information will be stored by Apache. Note that this is “somehow” mentioned by the mod_dav documentation at webdav.org, but not by Apache’s documentation itself. Yes, that’s bad and pretty annoying.