Re: Comments on draft HTTP/1.1 spec, v3

On Fri, 1 May 1998, Dave Kristol wrote:

> That leads me to my own question:  If there's an error on a HEAD
> request, should the server return an entity, or just the headers. 
> (Apparently the latter.)  Example:
> 
> HEAD / HTTP/1.1
> <CRLF>
> 
> There's no Host header, so the server responds "400 Bad Request".  With,
> or without, entity?

The only reliable answer is without. But beyond that, the spec is pretty
clear.  Same as GET except for no message-body. So if the client wants
to know why
   GET / HTTP/1.1
   <CRLF>
would have failed, it must try a GET.


The flaw in the HEAD request design is that it should have returned its
result as an entity rather than as a simple modified GET response. But
that change is too late.

Dave Morris