RE: 505 HTTP Version Not Supported

>----------
>From: 	Daniel DuBois[SMTP:ddubois@spyglass.com]
>Subject: 	Re: 505 HTTP Version Not Supported
>
>At 01:42 PM 4/3/96 -0500, Bob Jernigan wrote:
>>I.e., "if I don't need it, no-one does."
>
>I don't think it's a matter of me shrugging off the little people. 
>We've
>been moving a long time towards increased HTTP complexity.  We're now
>at the
>point where to be compliant with the latest HTTP there are headers you
>are
>*required* to send.  The issue of how  virtual servers are supposed to
>handle 0.9 requests can be a sticky one (as long as 1.0 and 0.9 are
>around
>will vendors continue to suck up multiple IP addresses for one
>machine?).
>
>IMO, this pseudo-backward compatibilty can only remain feasible for so
>long.
>I just think the world (wide web) would be a better place if no one
>made 0.9
>requests anymore.  And I'll probably feel the same way about 1.0
>requests
>soon enough.
>
>>But 0.9 is useful and will continue
>>to be useful in certain circumstances.  About half my hits are 0.9 but
>>they do return <1% of the data.  It all depends on what you think http
>>is useful for.

<soapbox>
I think Dan is being too kind. My reading of how people in charge of big
chunks of the Interent backbone feel is that if we don't expunge 0.9
_and_ 1.0 ASAP then the whole net will collapse. So, while it may be
convenient to not have to change, and the old way may deliver value to
those using it, they are creating disvalue for everyone else.

The minimum pieces of 1.1 that have to be implemented by clients and
servers to "save the Internet" aren't that hard: send Host:, and use
persistent connections. (Proxy caches have additional requirements.) The
people who have "20 line HTTP clients and 200 line HTTP servers" in PERL
might see their code grow by 20 lines in order to do this. Real clients
and servers might add 100-1000 lines (mostly for persistent
connections).  In return, the Internet will be there for us all to use.
</soapbox>

Paul

Received on Wednesday, 3 April 1996 11:29:52 UTC