Re: HTTP 'HASH' Method

On Fri, 25 May 2007 14:36:55 +1000, chown <elfius@gmail.com> wrote:

> I think a 'HASH' method should be implemented into HTTP, whereby the
> server responds with a hash (md5/sha) of the requested resource. This
> would be a godsend for large networks which tend to use caching
> extensively, because caching-proxy servers could verify the source
> hasn't changed while creating a minimal amount of traffic, thereby
> allow the amount of time the proxy stores cache to be be greatly
> increased only at the cost of hard drive space.

Entity tags already fill this role, do they not? Conditional GET
requests and 304 responses? You can do this with the existing HEAD,
too, if I remember the spec properly.

> Not only would this benefit caching applications, but as I'm sure you
> could imagine, it could be used in may other fields, especially
> security.

If you could name one example, for my benefit if nothing else -- I'm
afraid I'm at a loss of imagination. :)


-- 
Travis

Received on Friday, 25 May 2007 04:53:51 UTC