Re: PATCH, gdiff, and random-access I/O

>> In any case, I think it is important that the specification
>> recommend a delta format that can meet the needs of both diff/patch
>> type usage as well as remote random-access I/O patterns.
>
> I am not sure I agree. Would it be better to provide a different
> method for remote random-access I/O patterns? Random I/Os seem to have
> different enough priorities and possibly different set of essential
> operations to justify the increased complexity of morphing two content
> modification methods together.
>
I also have my doubts about random-access I/O support.  The HTTP/WebDAV
model is to do whole-resource operations, and since PATCH is all in one
method that still qualifies.  With WebDAV support, a client would be 
advised
to LOCK the resource and GET it, perform random-access I/O on the local
copy, then PUT/PATCH and UNLOCK the file.  Without WebDAV support,
client should do the same but using ETags rather than locks.

Lisa