What it is
davfs2 is a file system driver for WebDAV, the protocol Nextcloud and many other file servers use. It mounts a WebDAV share at a folder, so any app can open and save files there as if they were on your disk. It keeps a local cache so files you’ve opened stay quick.
cadaver, installed alongside it, is a command-line WebDAV client: it browses a share and uploads or downloads files with FTP-style commands, without mounting anything.
Why it’s here
- Your Nextcloud in Files. Open and save your Core’s files from any app.
- No sync client needed. Files stay on the server instead of being copied to every machine.
- A quick check from the terminal. cadaver lists or fetches files on a WebDAV server in seconds.
On CoreDesktop
When you connect your Core with configure, it mounts your Nextcloud files with davfs2 at /mnt/{your domain}. It adds the mount to /etc/fstab so you can mount it without sudo, adds you to the network group, saves a Nextcloud app password in ~/.davfs2/secrets, mounts it each time you log in, and adds it to the Files sidebar under your domain name.
The backups don’t use this mount, and the AI sandbox keeps agents out of ~/.davfs2. Both davfs2 and cadaver come from pacman, and update keeps them current.