Ubuntu Manpage: mount.davfs - Mount a WebDAV resource as davfs2 file system

NAME

       mount.davfs - Mount a WebDAV resource as davfs2 file system

SYNOPSIS

       mount.davfs [-h | --help] [-V | --version]
       mount {dir | webdavserver}

SYNOPSIS (root only)

       mount -t davfs [-o option[,...]] webdavserver dir
       mount.davfs [-o option[,...]] webdavserver dir

DESCRIPTION

mount.davfs allows you to mount the WebDAV resource identified by webdavserver into the local filesystem
at dir. WebDAV is an extension to HTTP that allows remote, collaborative authoring of Web resources,
defined in RFC 4918. mount.davfs is part of davfs2.

davfs2 allows documents on a remote Web server to be edited using standard applications. For example, a
remote Web site could be updated in-place using the same development tools that initially created the
site. Or you may use a WebDAV resource for documents you want to access and edited from different
locations.

davfs2 supports TLS/SSL (if the neon library supports it) and proxies. mount.davfs runs as a daemon in
userspace. It integrates into the virtual file system by either the coda or the fuse kernel files system.
Currently CODA_KERNEL_VERSION 3 and FUSE_KERNEL_VERSION 7 are supported.

mount.davfs is usually invoked by the mount(8) command when using the -t davfs option. After mounting it
runs as a daemon. To unmount the umount(8) command is used.

webdavserver is the URL of the server. It must at least contain the host name. It may additionally
contain the scheme, the port and the path. Missing components are set to sensible default values. The
path component must not be %-encoded, but when entering the URL at the command line or in /etc/fstab the
escaping rules of the shell or fstab must be obeyed.

dir is the mountpoint where the WebDAV resource is mounted on. It may be an absolute or relative path.

fstab may be used to define mounts and mount options as usual. In place of the device the url of the
WebDAV server must be given. There must not be more than one entry in fstab for every mountpoint.

OPTIONS

-V --version
Output version.

-h --help
Print a help message.

-o A comma-separated list defines mount options to be used. Available options are:

[no]auto
Can (not) be mounted with mount -a.
Default: auto.

comment=some comment
This option is ignored by mount.davfs but other programs may require it to be present in
fstab.

conf=absolute path
An alternative user configuration file. This option is intended for cases where the default
user configuration file in the users home directory can not be used.
Default: ~/.davfs2/davfs2.conf

[no]dev
(Do not) interpret character or block special devices on the file system. This option
is only included for compatibility with the mount(8) program. It will allways be set to
nodev

dir_mode=mode
The default mode bits for directories in the mounted file system. Value given in octal.
s-bits for user and group are allways silently ignored.
Default: calculated from the umask of the mounting user; an x-bit is associated to every
r-bit in u-g-o.

[no]exec
(Do not) allow execution of any binaries on the mounted file system.
Default: exec. (When mounting as an ordinary user, the mount(8) program will set the
default to noexec.)

file_mode=mode
The default mode bits for files in the mounted file system. Value given in octal. s-bits
for user and group are allways silently ignored.
Default: calculated from the umask of the mounting user; no x-bits are set for files.

gid=group
The group the mounted file system belongs to. It may be a numeric ID or a group name. The
mounting user, if not root, must be member of this group.
Default: the primary group of the mounting user.

[no]grpid
When this option is set a newly created file will take the group id of the directory in
which it is created. This will also apply to all files that are on the server and not in
the local cache. (That is because the group id is not stored on the server.)
If the group id of the directory is root this option is ignored.
Default: nogrpid.

[no]_netdev
The file system needs a (no) network connection for operation. This information allows the
operating system to handle the file system properly at system start and when the network is
shut down.
Default: _netdev

ro Mount the file system read-only.
Default: rw.

rw Mount the file system read-write.
Default: rw.

[no]suid
Do not allow set-user-identifier or set-group-identifier bits to take effect. This option
is only included for compatibility with the mount program. It will allways be set to
nosuid.

[no]user
(Do not) allow an ordinary user to mount the file system. The name of the mounting user
is written to mtab so that he can unmount the file system again. Option user implies the
options noexec, nosuid and nodev (unless overridden by subsequent options). This option
makes only sense when set in fstab.
Default: ordinary users are not allowed to mount.

users Like user, but any user is allowed to unmount the file system, not only the mounting user.
This is generally not recomended. If the user option allows an unprivileged user to mount,
but unmounting by the mounting user fails the users may be a work around.
Default: only the mounting user is allowed to unmount the file system.

uid=user
The owner of the mounted file system. It may be a numeric ID or a user name. Only when
mounted by root, this may be different from the mounting user.
Default: ID of the mounting user.

username=WebDAV_user
Use this name to authenticate with the WebDAV server. This option is intended for use with
pam_mount only. When this option is set the credentials in the secrets files will be ignored. The
password will always be read from stdin, even when option askauth is set to 0. Do not use it in
fstab. The username will be visible for everyone in the output of ps.
Default: no username.
Experimental: This option is experimental and might be removed. If you think it useful and
successfully use it please send a short report.

SECURITY POLICY

mount.davfs needs root privileges for mounting. But running a daemon, that is connected to the internet,
with root privileges is a security risk. So mount.davfs will change its uid and gid when entering daemon
mode.

When invoked by root mount.davfs will run as user davfs2 and group davfs2. This may be changed in
/etc/davfs2/davfs2.conf.

When invoked by an ordinary user it will run with the id of this user and with group davfs2.

As the file system may be mounted over an insecure internet connection, this increases the risk that
malicious content may be included in the file system. So mount.davfs is slightly more restrictive than
mount(8).

Options nosuid and nodev will always be set; even root can not change this.

For ordinary users to be able to mount, they must be member of group davfs2 and there must be an
entry in fstab.

When the mount point given in fstab is a relative file name and the file system is mounted by an
unprivileged user, the mount point must lie within the home directory of the mounting user.

If in fstab option uid and/or gid are given, an ordinary user can only mount, if her uid is the
one given in option uid and he belongs to the group given in option gid.

WARNING: If root allows an ordinary user to mount a file system (using fstab) this includes the
permission to read the associated credentials from /etc/davfs2/secrets as well as the private key of the
associated client certificate and the mounting user may get access to this information. You should only
do this, if you might as well give this information to the user directly.

URLS AND MOUNT POINTS WITH SPACES

       Special  characters  like  spaces  in pathnames are a mess. They are interpreted differently by different
       programs and protocols, and there are different rules for escaping.

       In   fstab   spaces   must   be   replaced   by   a   three   digit   octal   escape   sequence.    Write
       http://foo.bar/path\040with\040spaces instead of http://foo.bar/path with spaces.

       For  the  davfs2.conf  and  the  secrets files please see the escape and quotation rules described in the
       davfs2.conf(5) man page.

       On command line you must obey the escaping rules of the shell.

CACHING

       mount.davfs tries to reduce HTTP-trafic by caching and reusing data.  Information about  directories  and
       files are held in memory, while downloaded files are cached on disk.

       mount.davfs  needs  to  hold a local copy of all open files in the cache directory. Please make sure that
       enough local disk space is available.

       mount.davfs will  consider  cached  information  about  directories  and  file  attributes  valid  for  a
       configurable  time  and look up this information on the server only after this time has expired (or there
       is other evidence that this information is stale). So if somebody else creates or deletes  files  on  the
       server it may take some time before the local file system reflects this.

       This  will  not affect the content of files and directory listings. Whenever a file is opened, the server
       is looked up for a newer version of the file.  Please consult the manual davfs2.conf(5) to  see  how  can
       you configure this according your needs.

LOCKS, LOST UPDATE PROBLEM AND BACKUP FILES

WebDAV introduced locks and mount.davfs uses them by default. This will in most cases prevent two people
from changing the same file in parallel. But not allways:

You might have disabled locks in /etc/davfs2/davfs2.conf or ~/.davfs2/davfs2.conf.

The server might not support locks (they are not mandatory).

A bad connection might prevent mount.davfs from refreshing the lock in time.

Another WebDAV-client might use your lock (that is not too difficult and might even happen without
intention).

mount.davfs will therefore check if the file has been changed on the the server before it uploads a new
version. If it finds it impossible to upload the locally changed file, it will store it in the local
backup direcotry lost+found. You should check this directory from time to time and decide what to do with
this files.

Sometimes locks held by some client on the server will not be released. Maybe the client crashes or the
network connection fails. When mount.davfs finds a file locked on the server, it will check whether the
lock is held by mount.davfs and the current user, and if so tries to reuse and release it. But this will
not allways succeed. So servers should automatically release locks after some time, when they are not
refreshed by the client.

WebDAV allows to lock files that don't exist (to protect the name when a client intends to create a new
file). This locks will be displayed as files with size 0 and last modified date of 1970-01-01. If this
locks are not released properly mount.davfs may not be able to access this files. You can use cadaver(1)
<http://www.webdav.org/cadaver/> to remove this locks.

FILE OWNER AND PERMISSIONS

       davfs2  implements  Unix  permissions for access control. But changing owner and permissions of a file is
       only local. It is intended as a means for the owner of the file system, to controll whether  other  local
       users may acces this file system.

       The server does not know about this. From the servers point of view there is just one user (identified by
       the credentials) connected. Another WebDAV-client, connected to the same server, is not affected by  this
       local changes.

       There  is  one  exeption: The execute bit on files is stored as a property on the sever. You may think of
       this property as an information about the type of file rather than a  permission.  Whether  the  file  is
       executable on the local system is still controlled by mount options and local permissions.

       When  the  file  system  is  unmounted,  attributes of cached files (including owner and permissions) are
       stored in cache, as well as the attributs of the direcotries they are in. But  there  is  no  information
       stored about directories that do not contain cached files.

FILES

/etc/davfs2/davfs2.conf
System wide configuration file.

~/.davfs2/davfs2.conf
Configuration file in the users home directory.The user configuration takes precedence over the
system wide configuration. If it does not exist, mount.davfs will will create a template file.

/etc/davfs2/secrets
Holds the credentials for WebDAV servers and the proxy, as well as decryption passwords for client
certificates. The file must be read-writable by root only.

~/.davfs2/secrets
Holds credentials for WebDAV servers and proxy, as well as decryption passwords for client
certificates. The file must be read-writable by the owner only. Credentials are first looked up in
the home directory of the mounting user. If not found there the system wide secrets file is
consulted. If no creditentials and passwords are found they are asked from the user interactively
(if not disabled). If the file does not exist, mount.davfs will will create a template file.

/etc/davfs2/certs
You may store trusted server certificates here, that can not be verified by use of the system wide
CA-Certificates. This is useful when your server uses a selfmade certificate. You must configure
the servercert option in /etc/davfs2/davfs2.conf or ~/.davfs2/davfs2.conf to use it. Certificates
must be in PEM format.
Be sure to verify the certificate.

~/.davfs2/certs
You may store trusted server certificates here, that can not be verified by use of the system wide
CA-Certificates. This is useful when your server uses a selfmade certificate. You must configure
the servercert option in ~/.davfs2/davfs2.conf to use it. Certificates must be in PEM format.
Be sure to verify the certificate.

/etc/davfs2/certs/private
To store client certificates. Certificates must be in PKCS#12 format. You must configure the
clientcert option in /etc/davfs2/davfs2.conf or ~/.davfs2/davfs2.conf to use it. This directory
must be rwx by root only.

~/.davfs2/certs/private
To store client certificates. Certificates must be in PKCS#12 format. You must configure the
clientcert option in ~/.davfs2/davfs2.conf to use it. This directory must be rwx by the owner
only.

/var/run/mount.davfs
PID-files of running mount.davfs processes are stored there. This directory must belong to group
davfs2 with write permissions for the group and the sticky-bit set (mode 1775). The PID-files are
named after the mount point of the file system.

/var/cache/davfs2
System wide directory for cached files. Used when the file system is mounted by root. It must
belong do group davfs2 and read, write and execute bits for group must be set. There is a
subdirectory for every mounted file system. The names of this subdirectories are created from url,
mount point and user name.

~/.davfs2/cache
Cache directory in the mounting users home directory. For every mounted WebDAV resource a
subdirectory is created.

mount.davfs will try to create missing directories, but it will not touch /etc/davfs2.

ENVIRONMENT

       https_proxy http_proxy all_proxy
              If no proxy is defined in the  configuration  file  the  value  is  taken  from  this  environment
              variables. The proxy may be given with or without scheme and with or without port
              http_proxy=[http://]foo.bar[:3218]
              Only used when the mounting user is root.

       no_proxy
              A  comma  separated  list  of  domain names that shall be accessed directly.  * matches any domain
              name. A domain name starting with .  (period) matches all subdomains.
              Only used when the mounting user is root.
              Not applied when the proxy is defined in /etc/davfs2.

EXAMPLES

       Non root user (e.g. filomena):

       To allow an ordinary user to mount there must be an entry in fstab
              http://webdav.org/dav   /media/dav   davfs   noauto,user   0   0

       If a proxy must be used this should be configured in /etc/davfs2/davfs2.conf
              proxy   proxy.mycompany.com:8080

       Credentials are stored in /home/filomena/.davfs2/secrets
              proxy.mycompany.com     filomena  "my secret"
              /media/dav   webdav-username   password

       Now the WebDAV resource may be mounted by user filomena invoking
              mount /media/dav

       and unmounted by user filomena invoking
              umount /media/dav

       Root user only:

       Mounts the resource https://asciigirl.com/webdav at mount point /mount/site, encrypting all traffic  with
       SSL.  Credentials  for http://webdav.org/dav will be looked up in /etc/davfs2/secrets, if not found there
       the user will be asked.
              mount -t davfs -o uid=otto,gid=users,mode=775 https://asciigirl.com/webdav /mount/site

       Mounts the resource http://linux.org.ar/repos at /dav.
              mount.davfs -o uid=otto,gid=users,mode=775 http://linux.org.ar/repos/ /dav

BUGS

       davfs2 does not support links.

       A davfs2 file system cannot be moved with mount --move.

AUTHORS

       This man page was written by Luciano Bello  <luciano@linux.org.ar>  for  Debian,  for  version  0.2.3  of
       davfs2.

       It has been updated for this version by Werner Baumann <werner.baumann@onlinhome.de>.

       davfs2 is developed by Sung Kim <hunkim@gmail.com>.

       Version 1.0.0 (and later) of davfs2 is a complete rewrite by Werner Baumann.

DAVFS2 HOME

       http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/davfs2