PROPFIND on user home returns 500: `ValueError` in radicale `xmlutils.make_clark` (meta keys without `prefix:tag` form)

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@vitlav is already working on this.

Since Oct 7, 2026.

  • #373 by @vitlav — open

Assessment

Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Newbie friendliness
30/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Stale
Tech stack
python
Domain
backend-api-design

Research direction

Start with storage.py at Collection.get_meta() and compare the returned metadata keys with the names Radicale accepts in xmlutils.make_clark(). Reproduce with the depth-1 PROPFIND request in the issue and inspect the linked pull request #373. Done means the request no longer returns HTTP 500 for collection metadata.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

Description

Listing the user's collections — i.e. any depth-1 PROPFIND on the user's home path, which every CalDAV client does immediately after account verification — crashes with HTTP 500.

(This is observable after working around the separate cls.user bug in Storage.discover(), which crashes first on PROPFIND / — see my other issue: https://github.com/etesync/etesync-dav/issues/371 )

Environment

  • etesync-dav 0.35.1 — both the prebuilt macOS binary and a source install from the v0.35.1 tag
  • macOS 26.6.2, Apple Silicon (source install run under Rosetta x86_64, Python 3.9.6)
  • Radicale 3.2.0 (the version etesync-dav pins)
  • Server: hosted etesync.com account (api.etebase.com)

Full traceback

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File ".../radicale/app/__init__.py", line 108, in __call__
    status_text, headers, answers = self._handle_request(environ)
  File ".../radicale/app/__init__.py", line 292, in _handle_request
    status, headers, answer = function(
  File ".../radicale/app/propfind.py", line 407, in do_PROPFIND
    xml_answer = xml_propfind(base_prefix, path, xml_content,
  File ".../radicale/app/propfind.py", line 71, in xml_propfind
    multistatus.append(xml_propfind_response(
  File ".../radicale/app/propfind.py", line 139, in xml_propfind_response
    clark_tag = xmlutils.make_clark(tag)
  File ".../radicale/xmlutils.py", line 90, in make_clark
    ns_prefix, tag = human_tag.split(":", maxsplit=1)
ValueError: not enough values to unpack (expected 2, got 1)

Cause

Radicale's xml_propfind_response iterates the keys of collection.get_meta() and passes each one to xmlutils.make_clark(), which requires prefix:tag (or clark {ns}tag) form.

etesync-dav's Collection.get_meta() (storage.py line 445 in 0.35.1) returns the raw etebase collection-info keys:

if key is None:
    ret = {}
    for key in self.journal.info.keys():
        ret[key] = self.meta_mappings.map_get(self.journal.info, key)[1]
    return ret

Keys such as name / description / type (no colon, not in radicale's NAMESPACES map) reach make_clark and crash on human_tag.split(":"). The crash occurs on the first collection in the list.

Repro

curl -u user:pass -X PROPFIND -H 'Depth: 1' http://localhost:37358/username/    # 500

Seen identically in the prebuilt macOS 0.35.1 binary and in a source install with radicale pinned to 3.2.0.

Happy to test a patch or a newer build if useful.

Dominant language
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