208 Already Reported
WebDAV binding extension code used inside a 207 body to avoid repeating members that were already listed.
Status
HTTP/1.1 208 Already Reported
Details
- Category: 2xx
- Status: Standard. Registered with IANA and defined by a current standards-track RFC.
- Specification: RFC 5842 §7.1
- Cacheable: Not cacheable
- Response body: Allowed
- Retry: Not applicable
WebDAV bindings let the same resource appear under several paths, so a deep PROPFIND can hit the same collection more than once. 208 marks the second and later appearances: the members were already enumerated earlier in the same multistatus document and are not repeated.
It only ever appears inside a 207 body, never on the status line of a response. Without it, a bound collection graph with a cycle produces an enormous, redundant response.
Common causes
- A deep PROPFIND encountered a collection reachable through more than one binding.
How to fix it
As the client
- Resolve the earlier occurrence of the resource in the same document instead of expecting the members again.
As the server
- Emit 208 rather than repeating large subtrees, and use 508 when a binding cycle makes the request impossible to complete.
Examples
<D:response> <D:href>/dav/shared/reports/</D:href> <D:status>HTTP/1.1 208 Already Reported</D:status> </D:response>