Using WebDAV to list files on NextCloud server results in method not supported

Question

I'm trying to list files using webdab but I'm having issues. I can create directories and put files just fine but not list a directory or pull a file. I'm seeing the error, "Method not supported".

from webdav3.client import Client
options = {
  'webdav_hostname': "https://___________.com/remote.php/dav/files/",
  'webdav_login': "user_name",
  'webdav_password': "password"
}
client = Client(options)
print(client.list('/'))

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/home/<user>/.local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/webdav3/client.py", line 67, in _wrapper
    res = fn(self, *args, **kw)
  File "/home/<user>/.local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/webdav3/client.py", line 264, in list
    response = self.execute_request(action='list', path=directory_urn.quote())
  File "/home/<user>/.local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/webdav3/client.py", line 228, in execute_request
    raise MethodNotSupported(name=action, server=self.webdav.hostname)
webdav3.exceptions.MethodNotSupported: Method 'list' not supported for https://________.com/remote.php/dav/files

Answer 1

The client.list() method assumes the remote root directory by default.
As you supply https://___________.com/remote.php/dav/files/ as your webdav_hostname the root directory it tries to access when you call client.list('/') is the top level files directory. As a Nextcloud user you don't have access to that level, so listing that is impossible. However, you do have access to the files/<username> directory, so listing client.list('/<username>/') works.

To prevent that you have prepend the username to every list command you can set the webdav_hostname to .../remote.php/dav/files/<username>. Then a call to client.list() should work straight away.

Answer 2

Despite already providing a username in the webdav_login, a username is still needed in the call to listdir. For example, to get a list of files in the root directory of the user "user_name", client.list('/user_name/').