304 response with Content-Length header == OK?

Hi all,

While testing an HTTP/1.1 proxy server I am working on,
I found a page on a major site that returns the following
response on a conditional GET:

> HTTP/1.0 304 Not Modified
> Content-type: image/gif
> Content-length: 4672
> Expires: Thu, 15 Apr 2010 20:00:00 GMT
> Last-modified: Fri, 15 Apr 1994 00:00:00 GMT
>

The response didn't contain a body, but the presence
of a Content-Length threw off the proxy.  I'll be fixing
that in the name of tolerance in any case. But I was
wondering if including a Content-Length on a response
that must NOT include a body and which isn't produced by
a HEAD request should be considered a bug?  That is,
should I point out to the site operator that his/her
server is generating bad HTTP or is this OK since 304
tells us there won't be a body anyway?

Any opinions?
===
Wham! <wham_bang@yahoo.com>



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Received on Monday, 28 June 1999 13:36:57 UTC