Re: [htdig-dev] head_before_get attribute (was: 3.2RC1 Feature Freeze)

[Gabriele B. <bar...@in...>]

At 10.19 23/10/2003 -0500, Gilles Detillieux wrote:
>I guess the only safe way to automate the selection of this would be
>for htdig to keep track, on a server by server basis, to see if a server
>responds favourably to HEAD requests.  If it doesn't, then it would turn
>off this action for this server, but otherwise it seems it would almost
>always be an advantage to keep it on.  But now we're getting into the

That's what actually happens with persistent connections. However, for 
instance, the 'Limit' directive with apache can be set by directories or 
locations and I would not risk to disable the attribute for every document 
on the server just because one failed. Again, I guess that the 'webmaster' 
is the one that knows his scenario better than any one.

>If I'm not mistaken, as the code now stands, htdig will assume a document
>is inaccessible if the HEAD request fails, and so it won't try the GET on
>that document at all (unless head_before_get is explicitly set to false).

Hmmm ... by looking at the code in HtHTTP::Request(), we should add an 'if 
statement' for the case when the server returns a 405 status code. We 
should also add a proper Document Status for this in the Transport class 
(Document_method_not_allowed?).

Basically when we issue a HEAD method and we get a not allowed method 
response, we should get the resource.

What do you think? Anyway, I am going to open a feature request for this so 
we keep it in mind.

>So, properly automating this selection would require some code changes
>to the HtHTTP classs to implement this -- not something we want to start
>monkeying with at the eleventh hour before release.

I agree.

Ciao,
-Gabriele
--
Gabriele Bartolini: Web Programmer, ht://Dig & IWA/HWG Member, ht://Check 
maintainer
Current Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
bar...@in... | http://www.prato.linux.it/~gbartolini | ICQ#129221447
 > "Leave every hope, ye who enter!", Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy, The 
Inferno