Deposit and retrieve DataLad datasets with WebDAV services
This demo shows how one can publish, or collaborate on DataLad (https://datalad.org) datasets using any WebDAV-enabled cloud storage. WebDAV is a widely used technology, supported by solutions like OwnCloud and NextCloud, supported by services like box.com, or research IT infrastructure like the European Open Science Cloud's B2DROP.
DataLad is a command line tool, but its datasets are regular folders that work with any software and workflow. A key DataLad feature is uniform version control for text and (large) binary files. Such a dataset can be hosted on any WebDAV service.
Creating a remote dataset "sibling" only needs a WebDAV URL. Different modes of data deposition are supported: a multi-version capable storage archive, or a browse-able file tree, for example, to aid collaboration with non-DataLad users.
A "push" can transfer data content and dataset history to the WebDAV server.
On a cloud storage portal, the dataset content looks like any other upload,
but it remains a complete dataset that can be cloned as if it would be hosted on GitLab or GitHub. Again, only the URL and suitable access permission are needed.
This feature is provided by version 0.2 (or later) of DataLad's "next" extension package: https://github.com/datalad/datalad-next