Re: PUT method

On Sat, 17 Aug 1996, Jeremey Barrett wrote:

> On Sat, 17 Aug 1996, I stupidly wrote (jna):
> 
> > 
> > What exactly is a PUT method? At last check, there was no such method. 
> 
> PUT is part of the HTTP/1.0 spec in the Appendix on 'Additional Features',
> with the caveat that it may or may not be implemented or implemented
> correctly.  Is is used for replacing a particular URI. For example,
> let's say you are remotely editing /blah/blah.html, and wish to replace
> it. In theory, a PUT header followed by the document would replace
> the existing one. There is a bunch of server config necessary to make this
> really happen most likely.

I do remember this now, I guess I spaced the other day; It's supported by 
a few modules for spinner that allow you to remotely edit pages. I also 
believe that illustra put support for it in their web server as well.
 
> PUT does in fact work, if passed to a CGI script. Using netscape gold,
> you can 'Publish' a document via HTTP, which sends a PUT request followed
> by the full HTML text of the document, as it should. A CGI reads this from
> stdin, and does receive the document text. My problem is that the 
> netscape browser converts forms with PUT methods to GET requests before 
> sending them to the server, and I have no idea why.

Yep. Okay. Thanks for clearing this up. :) Has an RFC been established to
account for the handling of user authorization and authentication when
modifing files via a PUT method? It's probably an issue best left to
particular implementations, but some form of standard would be nice. A
typical implementation might rely on basic authentication first, and then
use the REMOTE_USER id to evaluate permissions on the file being modified. 
(just a guess)

--john

Received on Saturday, 17 August 1996 13:39:36 UTC