Re: PATCH, Expect, Prefer, etc

On 8/3/07, Julian Reschke <julian.reschke@gmx.de> wrote:
> > 418 Preference Failed
> >
> > The preference given in a Prefer request-header field was understood by
> > could not be met by this server.
>
> I'm not sure this should even be an error condition. Wouldn't it be
> wiser to just let the server execute the operation? It's "preference",
> not "expectation", after all.

+1

> > The Prefer header is defined to be generally identical to Expect with
> > the difference being that Prefer MUST be ignored if it is not
> > understood.  A server can choose not to fulfill a preference and
> > communicate that choice to the client using 418, but proxies are
> > required to forward them on.
> >
> > A proxy can choose to fulfill a preference if it is capable.  For
> > instance, a proxy that receives a 200 or 209 response to a request that
> > contains Prefer: 204-no-content can choose to return 204 No Content to
> > the client rather than the complete original response.  If the request
> > contains 209-content-returned and the server responds with 200 or 204
> > (or whatever), then it obviously will not be capable of fulfilling the
> > preference and must ignore it.
> >
> > Thoughts?
>
> Also, I'd clarify that the default response for a successful PATCH would
> be 204, not 208.

Why would a default be needed?

>
> And then, this probably should go into a separate spec :-).
>
> Best regards,
>
> Julian
>
>

Mark.
-- 
Mark Baker.  Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA.         http://www.markbaker.ca
Coactus; Web-inspired integration strategies  http://www.coactus.com

Received on Friday, 3 August 2007 12:44:06 UTC