mate-user-share is a small package that binds together various free
software projects to bring easy to use user-level file sharing to the
masses.

The program is meant to run in the background when the user is logged
in, and when file sharing is enabled a webdav server is started that
shares the $HOME/Public folder. The share is then published to all
computers on the local network using mDNS/rendezvous, so that it shows
up in the Network location in Gnome.

The dav server used is apache, so you need that installed. Avahi or 
Howl is used for mDNS support, so you need to have that installed and
mDNSResolver running.