Re: I-D Action: draft-ietf-httpbis-no-vary-search-05.txt

Hi Rory, Glenn,

Thanks for the conversation here! Sharing my interpretation here for how to move forward.

Regarding the issue (https://github.com/httpwg/http-extensions/issues/3287), that issue was about simplifying the structured field definition, which resulted in the PR made here (https://github.com/httpwg/http-extensions/pull/3374). That change was a substantive change that got review and support.

The issue also contains a fair amount of discussion about other possible names for the field. The WG can absolutely decide to change the name, and we can absolutely make late name changes — however, I’d like to see a very clear consensus around a particular name if we’re to go down that road. As noted in the issue, this is getting into bike-shedding for a document that is late in the process, for which there has been discussion on the name previously. The issue links to history on discussion both before it came to the IETF and this group, as well as on the list. I read this as a mix of people where some like the current name and some don’t like it, with arguments on both sides.

On the issue in question above, I had closed it with the comment that the issue itself was addressed by the PR, and that further discussion can be separate. Given that I didn’t see new issues filed to concretely propose a name change, and we didn’t get any WGLC feedback to the list regarding needing a name change, my current preference is to note the discussion about the name in the shepherd writeup for the document, but otherwise progress it. Of course, if there is some clear shift where the working group agrees on a different name, then we can and will absolutely follow that.

Thanks,
Tommy

> On May 14, 2026, at 1:47 PM, Rory Hewitt <rory.hewitt@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I agree that the field name isn't great, but I honestly do hesitate to cause trouble.
> 
> As I said in that GitHub comment thread, "I'm not a huge fan of either No-Vary-Query or No-Vary-Search - I would probably have gone with Cache-Query-Params or something similar to emphasize that this is all about defining which query parameters should be used (and how, in the case of ordering) for browser caching."
> 
> On Thu, May 14, 2026 at 12:10 PM Glenn Strauss <gs-lists-ietf-http-wg@gluelogic.com <mailto:gs-lists-ietf-http-wg@gluelogic.com>> wrote:
>> I previously commented that "No-" is jarring and causes friction.
>> It does not belong.
>> 
>> If "Vary-Search" or something similar, then a syntax could easily be
>> defined for inclusion sets and exclusion sets.  "No-Vary-Search" is
>> less clear, less flexible, and less extensible.
>> 
>> Cheers, Glenn
>> 
>> On Thu, May 14, 2026 at 10:39:35AM -0700, Rory Hewitt wrote:
>> > We had some discussion back in Jan/Feb in the GitHub repo (
>> > https://github.com/httpwg/http-extensions/issues/3287) about simplifying
>> > the SF field format for this, and even changing the field name itself. Is
>> > that definitely not going to happen?
>> > 
>> > I swear (as I swore then) that bikeshedding is not my intent, but as Martin
>> > T responded then, "naming is hard, but I've seen late name changes work
>> > very nicely.", and Julian R seemed to agree.
>> > 
>> > On Tue, May 12, 2026 at 10:45 PM <internet-drafts@ietf.org <mailto:internet-drafts@ietf.org>> wrote:
>> > 
>> > > Internet-Draft draft-ietf-httpbis-no-vary-search-05.txt is now available.
>> > > It
>> > > is a work item of the HTTP (HTTPBIS) WG of the IETF.
>> > >
>> > >    Title:   The No-Vary-Search HTTP Caching Extension
>> > >    Authors: Domenic Denicola
>> > >             Jeremy Roman
>> > >             Nidhi Jaju
>> > >    Name:    draft-ietf-httpbis-no-vary-search-05.txt
>> > >    Pages:   18
>> > >    Dates:   2026-05-12
>> > >
>> > > Abstract:
>> > >
>> > >    This specification defines an extension to HTTP Caching, changing how
>> > >    URI query parameters impact caching.
>> > >
>> > > The IETF datatracker status page for this Internet-Draft is:
>> > > https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-httpbis-no-vary-search/
>> > >
>> > > There is also an HTML version available at:
>> > > https://www.ietf.org/archive/id/draft-ietf-httpbis-no-vary-search-05.html
>> > >
>> > > A diff from the previous version is available at:
>> > >
>> > > https://author-tools.ietf.org/iddiff?url2=draft-ietf-httpbis-no-vary-search-05
>> > >
>> > > Internet-Drafts are also available by rsync at:
>> > > rsync.ietf.org::internet-drafts
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > 
>> > -- 
>> > Rory Hewitt
>> > 
>> > https://www.linkedin.com/in/roryhewitt
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Rory Hewitt
> 
> https://www.linkedin.com/in/roryhewitt