Re: Form-based File Upload in HTML

> ... a number of developers have mentioned that it would be easier to 
> process uploaded files if each file was given a content-length part 
> header.  I know it's late in the game, but I thought it worth mentioning.

This was an option in the original proposal, but was (vigorously)
debated and ultimately removed, because

* the boundary is a reliable indicator of the extent of the file data
* if both content-length and boundary are present, you have to check
  the boundary anyway.
* in some situations computing the content-length is difficult
  (although necessary for HTTP POST in some situations).

That is, while developers might think it would be easier with explicit
content-length parts, they're wrong.

The RFC should probably have said this explicitly.

Received on Saturday, 18 November 1995 18:34:58 UTC