RE: PROPOSAL: content sniffing [#155]

Julian Reschke wrote:
> Brian Smith wrote:
> > My suggestion is:
> >
> > 1. Remove 3.2.1 completely.
> 
> I think this goes to far, as it explains the interaction between
> Content-Encoding and Content-Type.

It is already explained well enough in 5.5, particularly in the section you
quoted below. The explanation in 3.2.1 also has the same problem you mention
below; "Content-Encoding(Content-Type(data))" doesn't make sense when there
is no Content-Type, especially if there is no default content-type.
 
> Related issue: Section 5.5 currently is phrased as if Content-Encoding
> only works in presence of Content-Type:
> 
> "The entity-header field "Content-Encoding" is used as a modifier to
> the
> media-type. When present, its value indicates what additional content
> codings have been applied to the entity-body, and thus what decoding
> mechanisms must be applied in order to obtain the media-type referenced
> by the Content-Type header field."
> 
> It seems to me we should rephrase that as well.

Additionally, the whole description of Content-Encoding is written
specifically for HTTP responses (e.g. "request-target", "...the response
MUST include...".

- Brian