Re: Comments on draft-ietf-http-v11-spec-rev-03

Jeffrey Mogul wrote:
> 
> Koen Holtman wrote:
> 
> > - Section 13.10:
> >
> > This section introduces a new (as far as I can see) requirement:
> >
> > #  A cache that passes through requests for methods it does not understand
> > #  should invalidate any entities referred to by the Request-URI.

> But I'm not sure what the problem is; my understanding is that
> the whole point of creating the M-GET method is to prevent
> "proxies that do not understand the method" from forwarding it.
> I.e., they are supposed to return 501 (Not Implemented) or act
> as a tunnel (i.e., not cache anything).
> 
> So any caching proxy that does forward M-GET does "understand" it, and
> isn't covered by the requirement that Koen objects to.

Well I'm confused (but you knew that already)!

Section 13.10 says a cache *can* pass through a method it doesn't
understand.  But Jeff says M-GET is meant to prevent the forwarding. 
Seems like a contradiction to me.

Dave Kristol