#110: how to determine what entity a response carries

<http://trac.tools.ietf.org/wg/httpbis/trac/ticket/110>

AFAICT the process you have to go through to figure this out is  
roughly (first match wins);

1) If the response status is in [200, 203] and the request method was  
GET, the response is a representation of the request-URI.

2) If the response status is in [204, 206, 304] and the request method  
was in [GET, HEAD], the response is a partial representation of the  
request-URI (here 'partial' meaning that it may just be entity headers).

3) If the response has a Content-Location header, and that URI is the  
same as the request-URI, the response is a representation of the  
request-URI.

4) If the response has a Content-Location header, the response asserts  
that it is a representation of the Content-Location URI (but it may  
not be).

5) Otherwise, the response is a representation of an anonymous /  
unidentified resource.


There are some open questions here -- e.g., is a 404 a representation  
of that resource? (maybe).

The bigger question, though, is how this affects the spec. I think the  
main impact -- if we can come to agreement, of course -- is on issues  
like <http://trac.tools.ietf.org/wg/httpbis/trac/ticket/22>.


Thoughts?

--
Mark Nottingham     http://www.mnot.net/