Re: HTTP 1.1 issue 07: 4.4 Message Length

> In section 4.4 "Message Length", does the statement                          
>    "If a Content-Length header field (section 14.13) is present, its         
>    decimal value in OCTETs represents both the entity-length and the         
>    transfer-length. The Content-Length header field MUST NOT be used         
>    if these two lengths are different (i.e., if a Transfer-Encoding          
>    header field is present)."                                                
> mean that a receiver should ignore Content-Length, or a sender should        
> not send it?                                                                 
 
It means that the sender should not send it in the case of a transfer
encoded message, since the transfer-length is otherwise encoded and would
result in a contradiction in the lenth.

I don't see an obvious rewrite to make this more obvious.  Unless there
is some concrete suggestion, I plan to leave this one alone.

This is one of the parts of HTTP that shows the problems with trying to
mush message lengths into the same layer as the semantics of the
message.  Ugh...  Always makes me sick to my stomach to look at this part
of HTTP.
				- Jim

				- Jim

Received on Tuesday, 10 November 1998 11:34:21 UTC