Re: MIME multipart/* vs HTTP
Scott Lawrence (lawrence@agranat.com)
Wed, 30 Apr 1997 12:50:34 -0400
>>>>> "DK" == Dave Kristol <dmk@bell-labs.com> writes:
DK> In my ignorance of MIME, I've been puzzled about this boundary
DK> business. Assuming each multipart contains a Content-Length header,
DK> does it matter what the boundary is? Can't the recipient just eat the
DK> number of content bytes before looking for the next boundary? If so,
DK> the boundary strings don't have to be particularly clever, do they?
I had also considered the use of Content-Length to address this; the
HTTP spec seems to allow it:
2068> 19.4.5 HTTP Header Fields in Multipart Body-Parts
2068> In MIME, most header fields in multipart body-parts are generally
2068> ignored unless the field name begins with "Content-". In HTTP/1.1,
2068> multipart body-parts may contain any HTTP header fields which are
2068> significant to the meaning of that part.
So is it legal for me to put an HTTP/1.1 Content-Length header into
a multipart/* part to indicate its length? It seems a workable (in
fact, preferable) solution. As server vendors we can't assume that
though.
--
Scott Lawrence EmWeb Embedded Server <lawrence@agranat.com>
Agranat Systems, Inc. Engineering http://www.agranat.com/