Via Header Field (replaces Forwarded)

Koen asked:
>    Upgraded-From: HTTP/1.0, HTTP/1.1
> 
> With this header, my detectability requirements are met.  Roy, is this
> header acceptable to you?

Jeff and I talked about this concept during the LA IETF.  I think that
it belongs in the Forwarded header.  It was also pointed out (by JimG)
that the Forwarded header as currently defined has too many unnecessary
bytes, so we thought about coming up with a more compact encoding.

How about this as a complete replacement for the current Forwarded?
===================================================================

10.xx  Via

   The Via general-header field is used by gateways and proxies to
   indicate the intermediate protocols and recipients between the user
   agent and the server on requests, and between the origin server and
   the client on responses. It is analogous to the "Received" field of
   RFC 822 [9] and is intended to be used for tracking message forwards,
   avoiding request loops, and identifying the protocol capabilities of
   all senders along the request/response chain.

      Via   =   "Via" ":" 1#( received-protocol received-by [ comment ] )

      received-protocol = [ protocol-name "/" ] protocol-version

      received-by       = ( host [ ":" port ] ) | pseudonym )
      pseudonym         = token

   The protocol-name is optional if and only if it would be "HTTP".  The
   received-by field is normally the host and optional port number of
   a recipient server or client that subsequently forwarded the message.
   However, if the real host is considered to be sensitive information,
   it may be replaced by a pseudonym.

   Multiple Via field values are allowed and represent each proxy or
   gateway that has forwarded the message.  Each recipient must append
   their information such that the end result is ordered according to
   the sequence of forwarding applications.

   Comments may be used in the Via header field to identify the software
   of the recipient proxy or gateway, analogous to the User-Agent and
   Server header fields.  However, all comments in the Via field are
   optional and may be removed by any recipient prior to forwarding the
   message.

   For example, a request message could be sent from an HTTP/1.0 user
   agent to an internal proxy code-named "fred", which uses HTTP/1.1
   to forward the request to a public proxy at nowhere.com, which
   completes the request by forwarding it to the origin server at
   www.ics.uci.edu.  The request received by www.ics.uci.edu would then
   have the following Via header field:

       Via: 1.0 fred, 1.1 nowhere.com (Apache/1.1)

   Proxies and gateways used as a portal through a network firewall
   should not, by default, forward information about the internal hosts
   within the firewall region. This information should only be
   propagated if explicitly enabled. If not enabled, the received-by
   host of any host behind the firewall should be replaced by an
   appropriate pseudonym for that host.

      Note: The Via header field replaces the Forwarded header field
      which was present in earlier drafts of this protocol.

===================================================================


 ...Roy T. Fielding
    Department of Information & Computer Science    (fielding@ics.uci.edu)
    University of California, Irvine, CA 92717-3425    fax:+1(714)824-4056
    http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/

Received on Saturday, 23 March 1996 21:54:13 UTC