Re: Host header issue

• From: Roy T. Fielding <fielding@kiwi.ICS.UCI.EDU>
• Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 14:17:07 -0700
• To: Geoff Macartney <g.macartney@apion-tss.com>
• cc: http-wg@hplb.hpl.hp.com
• Message-ID: <199909301417.aa11947@gremlin-relay.ics.uci.edu>

In message <37F363CD.87C3D72@apion-tss.com>, Geoff Macartney writes:
>In the recent discussion on this topic I haven't seen a query on the
>text in section 14.23 "Host"  of RFC 2616 which says :
>
>  "If the requested URI does not include an Internet host
>   name for the service being requested, then the Host header field MUST
>   be given with an empty value. "
>
>It is the "with an empty value" that confuses me - this seems to
>contradict what is written in section 5.1.2:
>  "The most common form of Request-URI is that used to identify a
>   resource on an origin server or gateway. In this case the absolute
>   path of the URI MUST be transmitted (see section 3.2.1, abs_path) as
>   the Request-URI, and the network location of the URI (authority) MUST
>   be transmitted in a Host header field. "

Some URI do not have an authority component, and therefore have no host,
but can still be requested from an HTTP proxy.  This is not a contradiction.

....Roy

Received on Thursday, 30 September 1999 14:21:51 UTC