Meaning of Last-Modified/I-M-S (was Re: Last gasp terminology issue)

Koen:
    > always assumed that
    > the Last-Modified header applied to the variant, not to the whole
    > resource.
    
Roy:
    It applies to the resource as a whole, which explains why the definition
    was the way it was (i.e., specified in terms of how the recipient will
    interpret it) and should be.

I agree with Koen on this one.  At the very least, it should be at
the origin server's option to decide whether to keep distinct
Last-Modified dates for each variant, or to use the maximum
over all of the variants of a resource.

Whether or not this has been easy for the CERN and Apache servers
is basically irrelevant, since I see no reason why the protocol
specification should require it, and it might be much harder to
implement in other contexts.

-Jeff