- From: Roy T. Fielding <fielding@kiwi.ics.uci.edu>
- Date: Thu, 05 Mar 1998 01:12:11 -0800
- To: Jeffrey Mogul <mogul@pa.dec.com>
- cc: "ietf-http-ext (E-mail)" <ietf-http-ext@w3.org>
>Can someone describe a scenario where it is essential (not >just a performance issue, but a correctness one) to be able >to find out what options a "server" (or "proxy") supports >with respect to a multiplicity of resources, rather than just >with respect to a single resource (and perhaps w.r.t. a specific >method on that resource?) Consider an encrypted encapsulation option that allows a client to wrap a request such that an intermediary can't see what resource is being requested (remember WRAPPED?). If the requestor has to identify the intended resource just to see if that option is supported, then it defeats the purpose of hiding the later request. Also, OPTIONS * HTTP/1.1 Host: blah will safely probe the connection peer for its HTTP-version. A proxy cannot forward this message, since there is no destination URI. Likewise, having both the method and the request-target be unusual prevents unforeseen side-effects on resources that stupidly assume the method is what they expect in normal requests. If we had a message body for OPTIONS, and that message body included a query syntax specifying exactly what options we are looking for, then it would be more useful. No, I'm not volunteering. .....Roy
Received on Thursday, 5 March 1998 04:14:45 UTC