Re: cookies: 2/4 headers?

Dave Kristol:
>
>At 9:01 PM +0100 3/1/97, Koen Holtman wrote:
>>[...]
>>Also, I prefer not to have a Cookie2 header.  You can be compatible
>>with old servers even if you do not have it.
>
>You can, but it is much messier, I think.
>>
>>I think the following compatibility scheme is optimal.
>>[cases omitted]
>
>The messy part is for a SMG ("new cookie") aware server to distinguish an
>old from a new cookie,

If I read the specs right:

Old:  Cookie: CUSTOMER=WILE_E_COYOTE
New:  Cookie: $Version="1"; Customer="WILE_E_COYOTE"; $Path="/acme"

Easy enough to distinguish: look for $Version at the start of the
header.

If I were to decode cookies, I would not even bother to distinguish
the formats beforehand.  I would just code a parser which is able to
handle both formats.

I think that the spec would be messier, not cleaner, if a Cookie2
header were introduced.

>Dave Kristol

Koen.