- From: Jeffrey Mogul <mogul@pa.dec.com>
- Date: Wed, 09 Jul 97 17:50:23 MDT
- To: Henrik Frystyk Nielsen <frystyk@w3.org>
- Cc: http-wg@cuckoo.hpl.hp.com
Proposed changes to Section 13.6, 4th Paragraph: RFC2068: The Vary header field may also inform the cache that the representation was selected using criteria not limited to the request-headers; in this case, a cache MUST NOT use the response in a reply to a subsequent request unless the cache relays the new request to the origin server in a conditional request and the server responds with 304 (Not Modified), including an entity tag or Content-Location that indicates which entity should be used. Henrik proposed: The Vary header field MUST also inform the cache that the representation was selected using criteria not limited to the request-headers; in this case, a cache MUST NOT use the response in a reply to a subsequent request unless the cache relays the new request to the origin server in a conditional request and the server responds with 304 (Not Modified), including an entity tag or Content-Location that indicates which entity should be used. Koen changed one word: The Vary header field MUST also inform the cache *if* the representation was selected using criteria not limited to the request-headers; in this case, a cache MUST NOT use the response in a reply to a subsequent request unless the cache relays the new request to the origin server in a conditional request and the server responds with 304 (Not Modified), including an entity tag or Content-Location that indicates which entity should be used. I think the first part is still somewhat misleading. How about: If the representation was selected using criteria not limited to the request-headers, then the server MUST include a "Vary: *" header field in the response. In this case, a cache MUST NOT use the response in a reply to a subsequent request unless the cache relays the new request to the origin server in a conditional request and the server responds with 304 (Not Modified), including an entity tag or Content-Location that indicates which entity should be used. As long as we are going to say MUST, we should be explicit about what the requirement is. -Jeff
Received on Wednesday, 9 July 1997 17:56:39 UTC