Ticket #283: 283.diff

p1-messaging.xml

@@ -621 +621 @@
 </x:span></artwork></figure>
 </section>
 
+<section title="Message Orientation and Buffering" anchor="message-orientation-and-buffering">
+<t>
+   Fundamentally, HTTP is a message-based protocol. Although message bodies can
+   be chunked (<xref target="chunked.encoding"/>) and implementations often
+   make parts of a message available progressively, this is not required, and
+   some widely-used implementations only make a message available when it is
+   complete. Furthermore, while most proxies will progressively stream messages,
+   some amount of buffering will take place, and some proxies might buffer
+   messages to perform transformations, check content or provide other services.
+</t>
+<t>
+   Therefore, extensions to and uses of HTTP cannot rely on the availability of
+   a partial message, or assume that messages will not be buffered. There are
+   strategies that can be used to test for buffering in a given connection, but
+   it should be understood that behaviors can differ across connections, and
+   between requests and responses. 
+</t>
+</section>
+
 <section title="Connections and Transport Independence" anchor="transport-independence">
 <t>
    HTTP messaging is independent of the underlying transport or
@@ -5895 +5914 @@
       <eref target="http://tools.ietf.org/wg/httpbis/trac/ticket/273"/>:
       "HTTP-Version should be redefined as fixed length pair of DIGIT . DIGIT"
     </t>
+    <t>
+      <eref target="http://tools.ietf.org/wg/httpbis/trac/ticket/283"/>:
+      "Set expectations around buffering"
+    </t>
   </list>
 </t>
 </section>