- From: Ross Patterson <Ross_Patterson@ns.reston.vmd.sterling.com>
- Date: Mon, 8 Sep 97 11:31:38 EDT
- To: http-wg%cuckoo.hpl.hp.com@hplb.hpl.hp.com
jg@pa.dec.com (Jim Gettys) writes: >"Note: An HTTP client should expect that If-Modified-Since headers sent >for cache validation will be interpreted "... by the origin server and all intervening proxy servers ..." or words to that effect > as >'If-Modification-date-does-not-match-exactly'. Let's not introduce the expectation of an "If-Modification-date-..." header-field and associated semantics. Rephrasing that to read "... as requesting an exact match between the supplied HTTP-date and the last modification date and time of the resource ..." or something like it would do the job. > In other words, an HTTP client >should preserve all of the accuracy in the Last-Modified date, It's not just a date, so how about "HTTP-date" instead. > rather than >(perhaps) playing games based on the official semantics of If-Modified-Since." Let's stop after "... in the Last-Modified date" and delete the remainder of the sentence. That way we wind up with a normative statement, rather than one that calls into question the motivation of the change or limits the interpretation of its scope. To summarize the above, here's my suggested replacement: "Note: An HTTP client should expect that If-Modified-Since headers sent for cache validation will be interpreted by the origin server and all intervening proxy servers as requesting an exact match between the supplied HTTP-date and the last modification date and time of the resource. In other words, an HTTP client should preserve all of the accuracy in the Last-Modified HTTP-date." Ross Patterson Sterling Software, Inc. VM Software Division
Received on Monday, 8 September 1997 08:35:38 UTC