The Darwin Calendar Server is a standards-compliant server that allows multiple users to collaboratively share calendaring information. It provides a shared location on the network to store schedules, and allows users to manage and send invitations. It was publicly released during Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference

Worldwide Developers Conference

The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, commonly abbreviated WWDC, is a conference held annually in California by Apple Inc. The conference is primarily used by Apple to showcase its new software and technologies for developers, as well as offering hands-on labs and feedback sessions...

 on August 7, 2006. The version shipped with Mac OS X Server

Mac OS X Server

Mac OS X Server is a Unix server operating system from Apple Inc. The server edition of Mac OS X is architecturally identical to its desktop counterpart, except that it includes work group management and administration software tools...

 v10.5 is called iCal Server

ICal Server

iCal Server is a service included in Mac OS X Server v10.5. iCal Server is based on the CalDAV calendar standard. The iCal Server is a CalDAV standards-compliant server that allows multiple users to collaboratively share calendaring information....

.

The server, named "caldavd", is a daemon

Daemon (computer software)

In Unix and other multitasking computer operating systems, a daemon is a computer program that runs as a background process, rather than being under the direct control of an interactive user...

 background service. It has been ported

Porting

In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...

 to non-Apple computer platforms. It is currently possible to install it on FreeBSD

FreeBSD

FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...

 and several flavours of Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

. The server is written in the Python programming language

Python (programming language)

Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...

, and uses extended file attributes

Extended file attributes

Extended file attributes is a file system feature that enables users to associate computer files with metadata not interpreted by the filesystem, whereas regular attributes have a purpose strictly defined by the filesystem...

 and the Twisted

Twisted (software)

Twisted is an event-driven network programming framework written in Python and licensed under the MIT License.Twisted projects variously support TCP, UDP, SSL/TLS, IP Multicast, Unix domain sockets, a large number of protocols , and much more...

 framework.

The Source Code Management project for Darwin Calendar Server is located at Mac OS Forge.

Supported clients

• iCal
  ICal
  iCal is a personal calendar application made by Apple Inc. that runs on the Mac OS X operating system. iCal was the first calendar application for Mac OS X to offer support for multiple calendars and the ability to publish/subscribe calendars to WebDAV server....
  
  
• OSAF
  Open Source Applications Foundation
  The Open Source Applications Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 2002 by Mitch Kapor whose purpose is to effect widespread adoption of free software/open-source software.-OSAF Mission:The mission of the OSAF is stated this way:...
  
  's Chandler
  Chandler (PIM)
  Chandler is a personal information management software suite described by its developers as a "Note-to-Self Organizer" designed for personal and small-group task management and calendaring. It is free software, previously released under the GNU General Public License, and now released under the...
  
  
• OSAF's Scooby
  Scooby Web Calendar
  Scooby is the code name formerly used for the Internet-based calendar user-interface for the Cosmo Web Calendar, currently being developed by the Open Source Applications Foundation.- References :...
  
  
• Mozilla
  Mozilla
  Mozilla is a term used in a number of ways in relation to the Mozilla.org project and the Mozilla Foundation, their defunct commercial predecessor Netscape Communications Corporation, and their related application software....
  
  's Calendar Project
  Mozilla Calendar Project
  The Mozilla Calendar Project is the name for the Mozilla project that led to the development of Sunbird calendar application and the Lightning integrated calendar...
  
  s (both Sunbird and Lightning)
• Mulberry
  Mulberry (e-mail client)
  Mulberry is a formerly proprietary, now open sourced email client marketed by Cyrusoft from approximately 1995 to 2005. On October 1, 2005, Cyrusoft International, Inc./ISAMET, declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy and went out of business...
  
  
• Webical
  Webical
  Webical is a web application to view and edit multiple iCalendars. Its features include progressive enhancement, a plugin framework that can be used to enhance the GUI and to add additional back end providers, pluggable authentication, and internationalization. Dutch and English localizations are...
  
  

See also

• CalDAV
  CalDAV
  Calendaring Extensions to WebDAV, or CalDAV, is an Internet standard allowing a client to access scheduling information on a remote server. It extends WebDAV specification and uses iCalendar format for the data. The protocol is defined by RFC 4791...
  
  
• iCalendar
  ICalendar
  iCalendar is a computer file format which allows Internet users to send meeting requests and tasks to other Internet users, via email, or sharing files with an extension of .ics...
  
   standard
• WebDAV
  WebDAV
  Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning is a set of methods based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol that facilitates collaboration between users in editing and managing documents and files stored on World Wide Web servers...
  
  
• List of personal information managers
• List of applications with iCalendar support