WebDAV Extension

Install

You'll need nginx from nginx.org configured first. These packages won't load on the distro nginx.

Add the Blendbyte repository if you haven't already:

sudo install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings

curl -fsSL https://apt.blendbyte.net/nginx/blendbyte-archive-keyring.gpg \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/blendbyte.gpg >/dev/null

echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/blendbyte.gpg] https://apt.blendbyte.net/nginx $(lsb_release -cs) main" \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/blendbyte.list

sudo apt update

Then install this module:

$ sudo apt install nginx-module-dav-ext

Most modules auto-enable on install. If yours didn't:

$ sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/modules-available/50-mod-dav-ext.conf \
  /etc/nginx/modules-enabled/
$ sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx

What it does

Nginx ships a WebDAV module that handles PUT, DELETE, MKCOL, COPY, and MOVE. What it doesn't do is PROPFIND, LOCK, UNLOCK, or PROPPATCH. Those are required by virtually every real WebDAV client. Without them, macOS Finder, Windows WebDAV, Cadaver, davfs2, and basically any WebDAV app either refuses to connect or breaks in confusing ways. This module adds the missing methods, making nginx's WebDAV actually compliant. Good for self-hosted file sharing, CalDAV/CardDAV setups with appropriate backend software, or anything that needs a real WebDAV endpoint.

When to use it

• Full WebDAV compatibility with macOS Finder, Windows, and Linux clients
• Integration with WebDAV-speaking desktop applications and file managers
• Self-hosted file sync using WebDAV-compatible client software
• Internal document management with standard WebDAV clients

Configuration

A starting point. Adjust to taste.

location /webdav/ {
  root /var/www/webdav;
  create_full_put_path on;

  # nginx built-in: PUT DELETE MKCOL COPY MOVE
  dav_methods     PUT DELETE MKCOL COPY MOVE;
  dav_access      user:rw group:r all:r;

  # dav-ext: PROPFIND LOCK UNLOCK PROPPATCH
  dav_ext_methods PROPFIND OPTIONS LOCK UNLOCK PROPPATCH;

  # Required for PROPFIND to work
  autoindex on;

  auth_basic           "WebDAV";
  auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/.htpasswd;
}

# If you were using Sury, this upgrades in place:
sudo apt install nginx-module-dav-ext

Upstream project

We package this from the upstream open-source project. If it's a bug in the module itself (not in our packaging), report it upstream.

https://github.com/arut/nginx-dav-ext-module ↗