Re: HTTP response version, again

The version number in the response indicates the capabilities of the
server. However, a server should not respond with a chunked transfer
encoding to a client that doesn't indicate it supports it. The
version number in the response can be ANY HTTP/1.x, but it would be
incorrect to send back a response that assumed HTTP/1.1 if the request
said HTTP/1.0.

# I think that the real issue here is we are using a single value to
# accomplish two objectives:
#   a.  Label the level of the response
#   b.  Declare the capabilities of the server

There is nothing wrong with this. In addition, we declare that 'a <=
b', that is, a response should be less than or equal to the
capabilities of the server. A response should also be less than or
equal to the capabilities of the request.

Since HTTP/1.x versions are upward compatible, you can tell the level
of 'a' by looking at the headers themselves.

Larry

Received on Friday, 20 December 1996 21:34:19 UTC