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1.1 Glossary

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This document uses the following terms:

Augmented Backus-Naur Form (ABNF): A modified version of Backus-Naur Form (BNF), commonly used by Internet specifications. ABNF notation balances compactness and simplicity with reasonable representational power. ABNF differs from standard BNF in its definitions and uses of naming rules, repetition, alternatives, order-independence, and value ranges. For more information, see [RFC5234].

collection: A resource that contains a set of URIs that identify member resources. Use of this term is consistent with what is specified in [RFC4918] section 5.2.

entity: Any document on a server that is accessible by using a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) URL.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP): An application-level protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems (text, graphic images, sound, video, and other multimedia files) on the World Wide Web.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS): An extension of HTTP that securely encrypts and decrypts web page requests. In some older protocols, "Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Sockets Layer" is still used (Secure Sockets Layer has been deprecated). For more information, see [SSL3] and [RFC5246].

locking: A mechanism that is used for overwrite protection. Locking can be applied to individual resources or to entire collection hierarchies (see [RFC4918] sections 6 and 7).

property: A name/value pair that associates metadata with a resource. This term is used as specified in [RFC4918] section 4.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL): A security protocol that supports confidentiality and integrity of messages in client and server applications that communicate over open networks. SSL supports server and, optionally, client authentication using X.509 certificates [X509] and [RFC5280]. SSL is superseded by Transport Layer Security (TLS). TLS version 1.0 is based on SSL version 3.0 [SSL3].

Transport Layer Security (TLS): A security protocol that supports confidentiality and integrity of messages in client and server applications communicating over open networks. TLS supports server and, optionally, client authentication by using X.509 certificates (as specified in [X509]). TLS is standardized in the IETF TLS working group.

Uniform Resource Locator (URL): A string of characters in a standardized format that identifies a document or resource on the World Wide Web. The format is as specified in [RFC1738].

Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning Protocol (WebDAV): The Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning Protocol, as described in [RFC2518] or [RFC4918].

web server: A server computer that hosts websites and responds to requests from applications.

WebDAV client: A computer that uses WebDAV, as described in [RFC2518] or [RFC4918], to retrieve data from a WebDAV server.

WebDAV server: A computer that supports WebDAV, as described in [RFC2518] or [RFC4918], and responds to requests from WebDAV clients.

MAY, SHOULD, MUST, SHOULD NOT, MUST NOT: These terms (in all caps) are used as defined in [RFC2119]. All statements of optional behavior use either MAY, SHOULD, or SHOULD NOT.