A PUT performed on an existing resource replaces the GET response
   entity of the resource.  Properties defined on the resource may be
   recomputed during PUT processing but are not otherwise affected.  For
   example, if a server recognizes the content type of the request body,
   it may be able to automatically extract information that could be
   profitably exposed as properties.

   A PUT that would result in the creation of a resource without an
   appropriately scoped parent collection MUST fail with a 409
   (Conflict).







 
RFC 2518                         WEBDAV                    February 1999


8.7.2 PUT for Collections

   As defined in the HTTP/1.1 specification [RFC2068], the "PUT method
   requests that the enclosed entity be stored under the supplied
   Request-URI."  Since submission of an entity representing a
   collection would implicitly encode creation and deletion of
   resources, this specification intentionally does not define a
   transmission format for creating a collection using PUT.  Instead,
   the MKCOL method is defined to create collections.

   When the PUT operation creates a new non-collection resource all
   ancestors MUST already exist.  If all ancestors do not exist, the
   method MUST fail with a 409 (Conflict) status code.  For example, if
   resource /a/b/c/d.html is to be created and /a/b/c/ does not exist,
   then the request must fail.

8.8 COPY Method

   The COPY method creates a duplicate of the source resource,
   identified by the Request-URI, in the destination resource,
   identified by the URI in the Destination header.  The Destination
   header MUST be present.  The exact behavior of the COPY method
   depends on the type of the source resource.

   All WebDAV compliant resources MUST support the COPY method.
   However, support for the COPY method does not guarantee the ability
   to copy a resource. For example, separate programs may control
   resources on the same server.  As a result, it may not be possible to
   copy a resource to a location that appears to be on the same server.

8.8.1 COPY for HTTP/1.1 resources

   When the source resource is not a collection the result of the COPY
   method is the creation of a new resource at the destination whose
   state and behavior match that of the source resource as closely as
   possible.  After a successful COPY invocation, all properties on the
   source resource MUST be duplicated on the destination resource,
   subject to modifying headers and XML elements, following the
   definition for copying properties.  Since the environment at the
   destination may be different than at the source due to factors
   outside the scope of control of the server, such as the absence of
   resources required for correct operation, it may not be possible to
   completely duplicate the behavior of the resource at the destination.
   Subsequent alterations to the destination resource will not modify
   the source resource.  Subsequent alterations to the source resource
   will not modify the destination resource.






 
RFC 2518                         WEBDAV                    February 1999


8.8.2. COPY for Properties

   The following section defines how properties on a resource are
   handled during a COPY operation.

   Live properties SHOULD be duplicated as identically behaving live
   properties at the destination resource.  If a property cannot be
   copied live, then its value MUST be duplicated, octet-for-octet, in
   an identically named, dead property on the destination resource
   subject to the effects of the propertybehavior XML element.

   The propertybehavior XML element can specify that properties are
   copied on best effort, that all live properties must be successfully
   copied or the method must fail, or that a specified list of live
   properties must be successfully copied or the method must fail. The
   propertybehavior XML element is defined in section 12.12.

8.8.3 COPY for Collections

   The COPY method on a collection without a Depth header MUST act as if
   a Depth header with value "infinity" was included.  A client may
   submit a Depth header on a COPY on a collection with a value of "0"
   or "infinity".  DAV compliant servers MUST support the "0" and