Re: Conent length with MIME header

[Christopher Ferris <chris.ferris@east.sun.com>]

Thanks Dick! Wish you were here;-)

Chris

Dick Brooks wrote:
> 
> David,
> 
> There are a couple of factors to consider wrt Content-Length:
> 
> The HTTP 1.1 spec (rfc 2616) states:
> 
> In section 4.4:
> 
>   "For compatibility with HTTP/1.0 applications, HTTP/1.1 requests
>    containing a message-body MUST include a valid Content-Length header
>    field unless the server is known to be HTTP/1.1 compliant. If a
>    request contains a message-body and a Content-Length is not given,
>    the server SHOULD respond with 400 (bad request) if it cannot
>    determine the length of the message, or with 411 (length required) if
>    it wishes to insist on receiving a valid Content-Length."
> 
> Then again in section 14.13:
> 
>    "In HTTP, it SHOULD be sent whenever the message's length can be
>     determined prior to being transferred, unless this is prohibited
>     by the rules in section 4.4."
> 
> IF ebXML mandates that only HTTP 1.1 servers are supported then we could
> eliminate the Content-Length, BUT...
> 
> Another use for the Content-Length header is to allow an E-Commerce site
> administrator the ability to "block" large file transfers. Without a
> content-length header you cannot determine the size of a message until its
> been received in its entirety.  Content-Length also provides an elegant way
> to check if there is enough available disk space before attempting to save
> the contents on disk.
> 
> In summary, the content-length gives system implementers a way to
> efficiently stop processing data that exceeds a size threshold BEFORE
> consuming system resources, including all available disk space (which could
> render an E-Commerce server unusable).  I do see your point about it being
> non-MIME-standard, perhaps it would make more sense to remove it from the
> "message envelope" specification but include it in the HTTP transport
> binding.
> 
> Your thoughts on this?
> 
> Wish I was in Tokyo to partake in all the fun - looking forward to seeing
> you in Vancouver.
> 
> Dick Brooks
> Group 8760
> 110 12th Street North
> Birmingham, AL 35203
> dick@8760.com
> 205-250-8053
> Fax: 205-250-8057
> http://www.8760.com/
> 
> InsideAgent - Empowering e-commerce solutions
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Burdett, David [mailto:david.burdett@commerceone.com]
> > Sent: Monday, November 06, 2000 3:54 PM
> > To: Dick Brooks (E-mail); ebXML Transport (E-mail)
> > Subject: Conent length with MIME header
> >
> >
> > Dick
> >
> > In the TRP meeting today there was a debate over content-length
> > in the MIME
> > header. The general conclusion was that we did not want to
> > include it as it
> > was a non-standard MIME header and various members of the POC
> > group thought
> > that we would be better of without it.
> >
> > We really need your feedback on why keeping it is a good idea. We
> > also need
> > to finalize this and would like to do this during the conference
> > call to be
> > held on 16th November.
> >
> > David
> >
> > Product Management, CommerceOne
> > 4400 Rosewood Drive 3rd Fl, Bldg 4, Pleasanton, CA 94588, USA
> > Tel: +1 (925) 520 4422 (also voicemail); Pager: +1 (888) 936 9599
> > mailto:david.burdett@commerceone.com; Web: http://www.commerceone.com
> >
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