hallam@w3.org: Netscape Bug or KeepAlive Feature ?

[This was meant for the least -- ange]

------- Forwarded Message

Date:    Sat, 02 Mar 1996 18:59:36 -0500
From:    hallam@w3.org
To:      http-wg-request@cuckoo.hpl.hp.com
Subject: Netscape Bug or KeepAlive Feature ? 


I have been looking into the action of posting forms. 

- --------------
POST / HTTP/1.0
Referer: http://************
Connection: Keep-Alive
User-Agent: Mozilla/2.0b6a (X11; I; OSF1 V3.2 alpha)
Host: zorch.w3.org:5000
Accept: image/gif, image/x-xbitmap, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, */*
Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-length: 36

action=Submit&text=This+is+some+data

- --------------

Now by my reconing the final CRLF is bogus. I would expect the next 
transaction to start. The HTTP/1.1 spec does not require a trailing
CRLF and the entity is precisely 36 bytes:-

action=Submit&text=This+is+some+data
123456789012345678901234567890123456


This is worrying me, is there a plan to permit footers on keepalive 
transactions and the CRLF is simply an artifact of that. Or is there
a "feature" here that people have been writing code ?


I got the same result from Mosaic:

- --------------
POST / HTTP/1.0
Accept: */*, q=0.300
Accept: text/plain
Accept: text/html
User-Agent: Spyglass_Mosaic/2.10 OSF1V2.0 Spyglass/9
Accept-Language: en
Connection: Keep-Alive
Referer: http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/WIT/Specification/entry.html
Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-length: 36
Extension: Security/Digest
Extension: Payment/FirstVirtual

text=This+is+some+data&action=Submit

- --------------


Is this simply me misreading the 1.1 spec or have we got an issue 
here? It would be "upsetting" to discover that forms handling programs
were dependent on a bogus trailing CRLF to teminate a www-form-urlencoded
data item.


		Phill

[Isn't it nice to be able to get some coding done with everyone at the 
IETF :-) ]


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Received on Monday, 4 March 1996 06:37:15 UTC