I am beginning to build a tool that uses WebDAV. I am having trouble wrapping my head around something here. I think I am missing something conceptual. I can use PUT's to add files to the server. I can use GET's to read files from the server, but when I try to use GET on a directory I get a 403:Forbidden. I am using basic authentication. My code in MacRuby is as follows

Net::HTTP.start('localhost') do |http|
  res = Net::HTTP::Get.new('http://localhost/webdav/')
  res.basic_auth 'jcannatti', 'webdav'
  http.request res
end

this returns

<Net::HTTPForbidden 403 Forbidden readbody=true>

however this

Net::HTTP.start('localhost') do |http|
  res = Net::HTTP::Put.new('http://localhost/webdav/gorilla.txt')
  res.body = "testetsetest"
  res.basic_auth 'jcannatti', 'webdav'
  http.request res
end

returns

<Net::HTTPCreated 201 Created readbody=true>

What should happen when calling a GET on a WebDAV directory when everything is working correctly?

thanks