Re: Microsoft proxy
Dave Kristol (dmk@research.bell-labs.com)
Thu, 1 Oct 1998 13:16:12 -0400 (EDT)
"David W. Morris" <dwm@XPASC.COM> wrote:
> On Thu, 1 Oct 1998, Jim Gettys wrote:
>
> > >From your description, it does sound like a bug in their proxy.
> > - Jim
> >
> >
>
> On the other hand, the proxy detected an error and attempted to report
> it. The question to me would hinge on whether the proxy then did
> a connection reset or normal close.
>
> I don't believe that HTTP is well architected for recovering
> partial transfers or in some cases even detecting incomplete transfers
> except those initiated by the client. Without architected error recovery,
> its all up to the implementation.
I agree. Consider the plight of an HTTP server running a gateway.
Suppose the gateway (CGI) produces some of its output but doesn't
finish in a reasonable amount of time. How can the server report an
error once it has begun its response? I suspect that's more or less
what happened to the MS proxy.
Dave Kristol