Re: MobileOrg, webdav, correct use of org-mobile-directory?

[Nick Dokos <nicholas.dokos@hp.com>]

James Harkins <jamshark70@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Aug 12, 2012 12:29 PM, "Nick Dokos" <nicholas.dokos@hp.com> wrote:
> > But from what you show below, you are not using cadaver (or anything
> > webdav-related for that matter) to do the copying. You are using
> > scp: *that*'s what you've got to get working.
> 
> When configuring a new service, it's useful to conduct a minimal test to ensure that nothing is
> wrong with the service. That was the point of using cadaver.
> 

I agree completely, but the cadaver test does not have anything to do
with copying files to the remote directory, only with the syncing part
from the remote directory to your phone (assuming I've got things right:
I don't have a smart phone, I don't use mobileOrg and I've not read the
docs in detail). In this case, the proper minimal test is scp from the
command line, not cadaver.

OTOH, the cadaver test *is* useful at the other end of the conversation:
if syncing to the phone does not work, then debugging webdav problems
using cadaver is certainly indicated.

> For my immediate needs, I think I can do without scp, since org-mode
> and Apache are on the same machine. The broader point is about the
> documentation. It says "do it this way" but "this way" doesn't work.

I read the page on worg and I agree it's unclear: it talks about using
webdav and then does not use webdav at all, just scp. But I don't agree
that it does not work: I've done a minimal setup with scp and tramp and
org-mobile-push/pull worked fine for me. I suspect that you are still
having some setup problems as indicated in my other email.

> 
> > > org-mobile-directory: /scpc:**user**@localhost:80/webdav/
> > >
> >
> > This looks wrong - if you try it with scp from the command line, can
> > you copy a file to that destination?
> 
> 1. How do I use scp from the command line?
> 

Your other email shows that you figured this out.

> 2. This destination is modeled on the docs, so if it's wrong, then so is the doc.
> 

Not really: the destination in the doc does not specify the port (80).
That's the HTTP port, so scp won't work with that - that's what I picked
up when I said it looked wrong. It needs the sshd port (22 by default
and implied if you leave it out of the scp path in tramp).

> > Where does org-mobile-directory point to if not the "physical location
> > of the webdav share"? The tramp stuff doesn't know or care about webdav
> > at all: it is just the mechanism that copies files from your local
> > machine to some other machine, so it needs to know exactly where to copy
> > it to.
> 
> Well, it almost looks to me like org-mobile-directory is asked to do two things at once: specify the
> scp syntax *and* hold a path that can be resolved on the local file system. This is the source of my
> confusion.
> 

You mean the "remote file system" I think, but that's true: it does
specify the protocol (scp) and the path. I think your confusion is that
you also wanted it to be the webdav path and it just cannot be that.

> At best, the docs are unclear.
> 

Yup.

> No matter for me. I'll just set org-mobile-directory to the physical, local path that is remotely
> accessible by webdav. But the doc was rather misleading, suggesting that some editorial attention
> would be warranted.
> 

Amen to that.

Nick

> hjh
> 
>