Issues-list item "CACHING-CGI"
Daniel LaLiberte (liberte@ncsa.uiuc.edu)
Wed, 16 Apr 1997 11:21:59 -0500 (CDT)
http-wg@cuckoo.hpl.hp.com writes:
> Note that some HTTP/1.0 cache operators have found that it is
> dangerous to cache responses to requests for URLs including the
> string "cgi-bin". HTTP/1.1 caches should follow this practice
> for responses that do not include an explicit expiration time.
> HTTP/1.1 origin servers that want to allow caching of responses
> for URLs including "?" or "cgi-bin" SHOULD include an explicit
> expiration time. Explicit expiration times may be specified
> using Expires, or the max-age directive of Cache-Control, or
> both.
What about Last-modified? In my use of cgi-bin programs to generate
pages for HyperNews forums and messages, I don't know about the
future, but I know about the past. Caching is possible, but
If-Modified-Since requests should always be used by cache servers to
find out if there has been a change. So neither Expires nor max-age
will do what I want.
dan