Q: How to locally sync an iPhone with OS X Mavericks? iCloud is NOT an option.

I'd be interested to know exactly what you think Csound1 is "plain wrong" on.

Here's the overview of CalDAV from calconnect.org:

CalDAV

 

CalDAV is a calendar access protocol and is defined in RFC 4791 [6]. The protocol is based on WebDAV which is an extension to HTTP that provides enhanced capabilities for document management on web servers.

 

CalDAV is used in a variety of different environments, ranging from very large internet service providers, to large and small corporations or institutions, and to small businesses and individuals.

 

CalDAV clients include desktop applications, mobile devices and browser-based solutions. It can also be used by "applets", for example, a web page panel that displays a user's upcoming events.

 

One of the key aspects of CalDAV is its data model. Simply put, it defines a "calendar home" for each calendar user, within which any number of "calendars" can be created. Each "calendar" can contain any number of iCalendar objects representing individual events, tasks or journal entries. This data model ensures that clients and servers can interoperate well.

 

In addition to providing simple operations to read, write and delete calendar data, CalDAV provides a querying mechanism to allow clients to fetch calendar data matching specific criteria. This is commonly used by clients to do "time-range" queries, i.e., find the set of events that occur within a given start/end time period.

 

CalDAV also supports access control allowing for features such as delegated calendars and calendar sharing.

 

CalDAV also specifies how scheduling operations can be done using the protocol, rather than, for example, sending scheduling messages via email. Whilst it uses the semantics of the iTIP protocol, it simplifies the process by allowing simple calendar data write operations to trigger the sending of scheduling messages, and it has the server automatically process the receipt of scheduling messages. Scheduling can be done with other users on the CalDAV server or with calendar users on other systems (via some form of "gateway").

How Csound1 describes it, is how it works. It reads and writes data to and from the server. No comparison is done of the data - which is what "synchronizing" would do.

fogr4 wrote:

 

I understand the distinction you are making between a sync, where a record might be modified, to a system where records are only either deleted or added to in their entirety.

 

But I still don't understand how a particular record that is modified by one client and pushed to the server, then gets pushed to another client at perhaps a later time when that other client is back online. Does the server keep a list of clients and track which ones still need to be updated? And does it keep track which records have been sent to the client or does it push the entire database every time?

No need to, all clients receive the entire data store (assuming that all clients are connected and have the services turned on) Don't overthink this, iCloud is deceptively simple. On connection any client has the cache content replaced by the online content, no choices to make and no conflicts to resolve.

ok, I accept that perhaps I'm trying to overthink this, but I have more question.

What about how the client updates the server? When I initially set up OS X server, I thought I had a problem where if the server was down the client update would not happen. But now it seems, that I was wrong, and on further tests, it seems the client is able to update the server at a later time when the server is back up.

How does that work? Does the client do the same thing? i.e. dump the entire database everytime?

If you add, change or delete a contact (or an event) that entry is pushed to the server by the DAV gateway in the client. It replaces or augments the current data and ends up pushed down to all of the clients, including the one used to put it up there in the first place.

Changes made in any offline client won't take place until it is online again.

"On connection any client has the cache content replaced by the online content, no choices to make and no conflicts to resolve."

No. That is a client/server system with a thin client.

In icloud the modified contents of the client cache update the online content if it has a later time stamp.

I.e. Synchronization. 

Ok now you corrected it.

No. That is a client/server system with a thin client.

Which is what iCloud is.

Ok so I update a contact on unconnected iphone. Then i update same contact on unconnected ipad. Then I connect both devices to internet. How does icloud decide which update is the true one unless it compares the data along with its timestamp?

peter_watt wrote:

 

Ok now you corrected it.

Corrected what, can you ever explain what you meant to say?

peter_watt wrote:

 

Ok so I update a contact on unconnected iphone. Then i update same contact on unconnected ipad. Then I connect both devices to internet. How does icloud decide which update is the true one unless it compares the data along with its timestamp?

You will get 2 Contacts, leaving you to delete the incorrect version.

Wrong.

60 seconds between those 2 posts and you tested it

We are done, I don't believe you.

Did you?

We will never be done whilst you try to save face by humiliating (or trying to) your opponents in what should be healthy discussion.

peter_watt wrote:

 

Did you?

I'm done with you, I thought I made that clear. But exactly which part is not clear to you?

I'm with ndawg. I think people are upset with Apple for good reason. And I think people have a diversity of good reasons to want their stuff kept locally on their devices. We used to hear a lot about how great big data was going to be, much less since Snowden, and here apple wants me to run all my stuff through them.