Hi Maxime,
let me describe three scenarios, so that you have the full picture on how I was playing and thinking about how to deal with Webdav [1, 2] and Odoo and how it related to Owncload.
1) Odoo as Backend for Owncload
We did this with OpenERP v7 to test our Webdav module [2]. The documents get stored in OpenERP and you can access it on Owncload, like syncing it with the client to your local storage. Feels really cool like Dropbox.
It works very well with static files, but it didn't work with reports which will be rendered in OpenERP if you download it.
Upload works as well.
This solution doesn't work for Odoo v8 because there is no webdav module at the moment.
2) Owncload as Storage-Location & Webdav Server
The general idea is, if we want to use webdav, to use other software that is its core business to implement a good working webdav server.
Programming the webdav protocol is not fun at all, if you are on the server side. The idea is that if you are a client it would be a little better. So you configure your Odoo to store all document not in his database or on filesystem. You upload them to Owncload, so you can have access them via Webdav.
To make upload work, you need another plugin for Owncload to inform Odoo that it has a new file.
2b) If you don't want to implement webdav as a client. You can also use the code from Sebastien [3] to store the data in a more complex tree on filestore and configure this location as an Owncload backend.
In both cases, you need to implement the Owncload Sharing REST API to map rights to get access.
We have a shared user base, to use ldap for both systems.
Conclusion:
At the moment i know you are not the only one that needs this feature and dropping webdav from core is from the functional side a loss.
I am unsure at the moment, what is the best way to go.
A) Migration of the webdav module
B) Using existing webdav server and make an integration (Owncload or maybe there is another solution)
Kind Regards
Markus
[1] http://de.slideshare.net/initOS/webdav-caldav-co-in-odoo
[2] https://github.com/initOS/openerp-dav
[3] https://github.com/akretion/server-tools/tree/7.0-binary-field/binary_field
