Ignore:
Timestamp:
10/03/11 08:40:45 (10 years ago)
Author:
fielding@…
Message:

Replaced the general prohibition on unrecognized Content-* header fields
with a specific prohibition of Content-Range (the only field for which
it is an actual problem) and a general requirement regarding checking
for consistency. Unfortunately, this required rewriting the entire
section on PUT to get rid of the misconceptions about storing resources
and reflect how PUT is actually implemented in practice.

Addresses #79, #102, #103, #104, #112, #180, #231, and #267

Location:
draft-ietf-httpbis/latest
Files:
2 edited

Legend:

Unmodified
Added
Removed

  • draft-ietf-httpbis/latest/p2-semantics.html

    r1154 r1158  
    359359  }
    360360  @bottom-center {
    361        content: "Expires September 10, 2011";
     361       content: "Expires September 11, 2011";
    362362  }
    363363  @bottom-right {
    … …  
    409409      <meta name="dct.creator" content="Reschke, J. F.">
    410410      <meta name="dct.identifier" content="urn:ietf:id:draft-ietf-httpbis-p2-semantics-latest">
    411       <meta name="dct.issued" scheme="ISO8601" content="2011-03-09">
     411      <meta name="dct.issued" scheme="ISO8601" content="2011-03-10">
    412412      <meta name="dct.replaces" content="urn:ietf:rfc:2616">
    413413      <meta name="dct.abstract" content="The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application-level protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP has been in use by the World Wide Web global information initiative since 1990. This document is Part 2 of the seven-part specification that defines the protocol referred to as &#34;HTTP/1.1&#34; and, taken together, obsoletes RFC 2616. Part 2 defines the semantics of HTTP messages as expressed by request methods, request-header fields, response status codes, and response-header fields.">
    … …  
    440440            </tr>
    441441            <tr>
    442                <td class="left">Expires: September 10, 2011</td>
     442               <td class="left">Expires: September 11, 2011</td>
    443443               <td class="right">HP</td>
    444444            </tr>
    … …  
    493493            <tr>
    494494               <td class="left"></td>
    495                <td class="right">March 9, 2011</td>
     495               <td class="right">March 10, 2011</td>
    496496            </tr>
    497497         </tbody>
    … …  
    520520         in progress”.
    521521      </p>
    522       <p>This Internet-Draft will expire on September 10, 2011.</p>
     522      <p>This Internet-Draft will expire on September 11, 2011.</p>
    523523      <h1><a id="rfc.copyrightnotice" href="#rfc.copyrightnotice">Copyright Notice</a></h1>
    524524      <p>Copyright © 2011 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.</p>
    … …  
    14201420      <div id="rfc.iref.m.5"></div>
    14211421      <h2 id="rfc.section.7.6"><a href="#rfc.section.7.6">7.6</a>&nbsp;<a id="PUT" href="#PUT">PUT</a></h2>
    1422       <p id="rfc.section.7.6.p.1">The PUT method requests that the enclosed representation be stored at the effective request URI. If the effective request
    1423          URI refers to an already existing resource, the enclosed representation <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> be considered a modified version of the one residing on the origin server. Otherwise, if the effective request URI does not
    1424          point to an existing resource, and that URI is capable of being defined as a new resource by the requesting user agent, the
    1425          origin server can create the resource with that URI.
    1426       </p>
    1427       <p id="rfc.section.7.6.p.2">If a new resource is created at the effective request URI, the origin server <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> inform the user agent via the 201 (Created) response. If an existing resource is modified, either the 200 (OK) or 204 (No
    1428          Content) response codes <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> be sent to indicate successful completion of the request.
    1429       </p>
    1430       <p id="rfc.section.7.6.p.3">If the target resource could not be created or modified, an appropriate error response <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> be given that reflects the nature of the problem. The recipient of the representation <em class="bcp14">MUST NOT</em> ignore any Content-* header fields (headers starting with the prefix "Content-") that it does not understand or implement
    1431          and <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> return a 501 (Not Implemented) response in such cases.
    1432       </p>
    1433       <p id="rfc.section.7.6.p.4">Responses to the PUT method are not cacheable. If a PUT request passes through a cache that has one or more stored responses
     1422      <p id="rfc.section.7.6.p.1">The PUT method is used to request that the state of the target resource be created or replaced with the state defined by the
     1423         representation enclosed in the request message payload. A successful PUT of a given representation would suggest that a subsequent
     1424         GET on that same target resource will result in an equivalent representation being returned in a 200 (OK) response. However,
     1425         there is no guarantee that such a state change will be observable, since the target resource might be acted upon by other
     1426         user agents in parallel, or might be subject to dynamic processing by the origin server, before any subsequent GET is received.
     1427         A successful response only implies that the user agent's intent was achieved at the time of its processing by the origin server.
     1428      </p>
     1429      <p id="rfc.section.7.6.p.2">If the target resource does not have a current representation and the PUT successfully creates one, then the origin server <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> inform the user agent by sending a 201 (Created) response. If the target resource does have a current representation and that
     1430         representation is successfully modified in accordance with the state of the enclosed representation, then either a 200 (OK)
     1431         or 204 (No Content) response <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> be sent to indicate successful completion of the request.
     1432      </p>
     1433      <p id="rfc.section.7.6.p.3">Unrecognized header fields <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> be ignored (i.e., not saved as part of the resource state).
     1434      </p>
     1435      <p id="rfc.section.7.6.p.4">An origin server <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> verify that the PUT representation is consistent with any constraints which the server has for the target resource that cannot
     1436         or will not be changed by the PUT. This is particularly important when the origin server uses internal configuration information
     1437         related to the URI in order to set the values for representation metadata on GET responses. When a PUT representation is inconsistent
     1438         with the target resource, the origin server <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> either make them consistent, by transforming the representation or changing the resource configuration, or respond with a
     1439         409 (Conflict) status code and sufficient information to explain why the representation is unsuitable.
     1440      </p>
     1441      <p id="rfc.section.7.6.p.5">For example, if the target resource is configured to always have a Content-Type of "text/html" and the representation being
     1442         PUT has a Content-Type of "image/jpeg", then the origin server <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> do one of: (a) reconfigure the target resource to reflect the new media type; (b) transform the PUT representation to a format
     1443         consistent with that of the resource before saving it as the new resource state; or, (c) reject the request with a 409 response
     1444         indicating that the target resource is limited to "text/html", perhaps including a link to a different resource that would
     1445         be a suitable target for the new representation.
     1446      </p>
     1447      <p id="rfc.section.7.6.p.6">HTTP does not define exactly how a PUT method affects the state of an origin server beyond what can be expressed by the intent
     1448         of the user agent request and the semantics of the origin server response. It does not define what a resource might be, in
     1449         any sense of that word, beyond the interface provided via HTTP. It does not define how resource state is "stored", nor how
     1450         such storage might change as a result of a change in resource state, nor how the origin server translates resource state into
     1451         representations. Generally speaking, all implementation details behind the resource interface are intentionally hidden by
     1452         the server.
     1453      </p>
     1454      <p id="rfc.section.7.6.p.7">The fundamental difference between the POST and PUT methods is highlighted by the different intent for the target resource.
     1455         The target resource in a POST request is intended to handle the enclosed representation as a data-accepting process, such
     1456         as for a gateway to some other protocol or a document that accepts annotations. In contrast, the target resource in a PUT
     1457         request is intended to take the enclosed representation as a new or replacement value. Hence, the intent of PUT is idempotent
     1458         and visible to intermediaries, even though the exact effect is only known by the origin server.
     1459      </p>
     1460      <p id="rfc.section.7.6.p.8">Proper interpretation of a PUT request presumes that the user agent knows what target resource is desired. A service that
     1461         is intended to select a proper URI on behalf of the client, after receiving a state-changing request, <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> be implemented using the POST method rather than PUT. If the origin server will not make the requested PUT state change to
     1462         the target resource and instead wishes to have it applied to a different resource, such as when the resource has been moved
     1463         to a different URI, then the origin server <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> send a 301 (Moved Permanently) response; the user agent <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> then make its own decision regarding whether or not to redirect the request.
     1464      </p>
     1465      <p id="rfc.section.7.6.p.9">A PUT request applied to the target resource <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> have side-effects on other resources. For example, an article might have a URI for identifying "the current version" (a resource)
     1466         which is separate from the URIs identifying each particular version (different resources that at one point shared the same
     1467         state as the current version resource). A successful PUT request on "the current version" URI might therefore create a new
     1468         version resource in addition to changing the state of the target resource, and might also cause links to be added between
     1469         the related resources.
     1470      </p>
     1471      <p id="rfc.section.7.6.p.10">An origin server <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> reject any PUT request that contains a Content-Range header field, since it might be misinterpreted as partial content (or
     1472         might be partial content that is being mistakenly PUT as a full representation). Partial content updates are possible by targeting
     1473         a separately identified resource with state that overlaps a portion of the larger resource, or by using a different method
     1474         that has been specifically defined for partial updates (for example, the PATCH method defined in <a href="#RFC5789" id="rfc.xref.RFC5789.1"><cite title="PATCH Method for HTTP">[RFC5789]</cite></a>).
     1475      </p>
     1476      <p id="rfc.section.7.6.p.11">Responses to the PUT method are not cacheable. If a PUT request passes through a cache that has one or more stored responses
    14341477         for the effective request URI, those stored responses will be invalidated (see <a href="p6-cache.html#invalidation.after.updates.or.deletions" title="Request Methods that Invalidate">Section 2.5</a> of <a href="#Part6" id="rfc.xref.Part6.11"><cite title="HTTP/1.1, part 6: Caching">[Part6]</cite></a>).
    1435       </p>
    1436       <p id="rfc.section.7.6.p.5">The fundamental difference between the POST and PUT requests is reflected in the different meaning of the effective request
    1437          URI. The URI in a POST request identifies the resource that will handle the enclosed representation. That resource might be
    1438          a data-accepting process, a gateway to some other protocol, or a document that accepts annotations. In contrast, the URI in
    1439          a PUT request identifies the resource for which enclosed representation is a new or replacement value; the user agent knows
    1440          what URI is intended and the server <em class="bcp14">MUST NOT</em> attempt to apply the request to some other resource. If the server desires that the request be applied to a different URI,
    1441          it <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> send a 301 (Moved Permanently) response; the user agent <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> then make its own decision regarding whether or not to redirect the request.
    1442       </p>
    1443       <p id="rfc.section.7.6.p.6">A single resource <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> be identified by many different URIs. For example, an article might have a URI for identifying "the current version" which
    1444          is separate from the URI identifying each particular version. In this case, a PUT request on a general URI might result in
    1445          several other URIs being defined by the origin server.
    1446       </p>
    1447       <p id="rfc.section.7.6.p.7">HTTP/1.1 does not define how a PUT method affects the state of an origin server.</p>
    1448       <p id="rfc.section.7.6.p.8">Header fields in a PUT request that are recognized as representation metadata <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> be applied to the resource created or modified by the PUT. Unrecognized header fields <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> be ignored.
    14491478      </p>
    14501479      <div id="rfc.iref.d.1"></div>
    … …  
    26312660      <h2 id="rfc.references.2"><a href="#rfc.section.13.2" id="rfc.section.13.2">13.2</a> Informative References
    26322661      </h2>
    2633       <table>             
     2662      <table>               
    26342663         <tr>
    26352664            <td class="reference"><b id="RFC1945">[RFC1945]</b></td>
    … …  
    26652694            <td class="reference"><b id="RFC5322">[RFC5322]</b></td>
    26662695            <td class="top">Resnick, P., “<a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5322">Internet Message Format</a>”, RFC&nbsp;5322, October&nbsp;2008.
     2696            </td>
     2697         </tr>
     2698         <tr>
     2699            <td class="reference"><b id="RFC5789">[RFC5789]</b></td>
     2700            <td class="top">Dusseault, L. and J. Snell, “<a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5789">PATCH Method for HTTP</a>”, RFC&nbsp;5789, March&nbsp;2010.
    26672701            </td>
    26682702         </tr>
    … …  
    33303364                     </ul>
    33313365                  </li>
     3366                  <li><em>RFC5789</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.RFC5789.1">7.6</a>, <a href="#RFC5789"><b>13.2</b></a></li>
    33323367               </ul>
    33333368            </li>

  • draft-ietf-httpbis/latest/p2-semantics.xml

    r1154 r1158  
    10471047  <iref primary="true" item="Methods" subitem="PUT" x:for-anchor=""/>
    10481048<t>
    1049    The PUT method requests that the enclosed representation be stored at the
    1050    effective request URI. If the effective request URI refers to an already
    1051    existing resource, the enclosed representation &SHOULD; be considered a
    1052    modified version of the one residing on the origin server. Otherwise, if the
    1053    effective request URI does not point to an existing resource, and that URI is
    1054    capable of being defined as a new resource by the requesting user
    1055    agent, the origin server can create the resource with that URI.
     1049   The PUT method is used to request that the state of the target resource
     1050   be created or replaced with the state defined by the representation
     1051   enclosed in the request message payload.  A successful PUT of a given
     1052   representation would suggest that a subsequent GET on that same target
     1053   resource will result in an equivalent representation being returned in
     1054   a 200 (OK) response.  However, there is no guarantee that such a state
     1055   change will be observable, since the target resource might be acted
     1056   upon by other user agents in parallel, or might be subject to dynamic
     1057   processing by the origin server, before any subsequent GET is received.
     1058   A successful response only implies that the user agent's intent was
     1059   achieved at the time of its processing by the origin server.
    10561060</t>
    10571061<t>   
    1058    If a new resource is created at the effective request URI, the origin
    1059    server &MUST; inform the user agent
    1060    via the 201 (Created) response. If an existing resource is modified,
    1061    either the 200 (OK) or 204 (No Content) response codes &SHOULD; be sent
    1062    to indicate successful completion of the request.
    1063 </t>
    1064 <t>   
    1065    If the target resource could not be created or modified, an appropriate
    1066    error response &SHOULD; be given that reflects the nature of the problem.
    1067    The recipient of the representation &MUST-NOT; ignore any Content-*
    1068    header fields (headers starting with the prefix "Content-") that it does
    1069    not understand or implement
    1070    and &MUST; return a 501 (Not Implemented) response in such cases.
     1062   If the target resource does not have a current representation and
     1063   the PUT successfully creates one, then the origin server &MUST; inform
     1064   the user agent by sending a 201 (Created) response.  If the target
     1065   resource does have a current representation and that representation is
     1066   successfully modified in accordance with the state of the enclosed
     1067   representation, then either a 200 (OK) or 204 (No Content) response
     1068   &SHOULD; be sent to indicate successful completion of the request.
     1069</t>
     1070<t>
     1071   Unrecognized header fields &SHOULD; be ignored (i.e., not saved
     1072   as part of the resource state).
     1073</t>
     1074<t>
     1075   An origin server &SHOULD; verify that the PUT representation is
     1076   consistent with any constraints which the server has for the target
     1077   resource that cannot or will not be changed by the PUT.  This is
     1078   particularly important when the origin server uses internal
     1079   configuration information related to the URI in order to set the
     1080   values for representation metadata on GET responses.  When a PUT
     1081   representation is inconsistent with the target resource, the origin
     1082   server &SHOULD; either make them consistent, by transforming the
     1083   representation or changing the resource configuration, or respond
     1084   with a 409 (Conflict) status code and sufficient information
     1085   to explain why the representation is unsuitable.
     1086</t>
     1087<t>
     1088   For example, if the target resource is configured to always have a
     1089   Content-Type of "text/html" and the representation being PUT has a
     1090   Content-Type of "image/jpeg", then the origin server &SHOULD; do one of:
     1091   (a) reconfigure the target resource to reflect the new media type;
     1092   (b) transform the PUT representation to a format consistent with that
     1093   of the resource before saving it as the new resource state; or,
     1094   (c) reject the request with a 409 response indicating that the target
     1095   resource is limited to "text/html", perhaps including a link to a
     1096   different resource that would be a suitable target for the new
     1097   representation.
     1098</t>
     1099<t>
     1100   HTTP does not define exactly how a PUT method affects the state
     1101   of an origin server beyond what can be expressed by the intent of
     1102   the user agent request and the semantics of the origin server response.
     1103   It does not define what a resource might be, in any sense of that
     1104   word, beyond the interface provided via HTTP.  It does not define
     1105   how resource state is "stored", nor how such storage might change
     1106   as a result of a change in resource state, nor how the origin server
     1107   translates resource state into representations.  Generally speaking,
     1108   all implementation details behind the resource interface are
     1109   intentionally hidden by the server.
     1110</t>
     1111<t>
     1112   The fundamental difference between the POST and PUT methods is
     1113   highlighted by the different intent for the target resource.
     1114   The target resource in a POST request is intended to handle the
     1115   enclosed representation as a data-accepting process, such as for
     1116   a gateway to some other protocol or a document that accepts annotations.
     1117   In contrast, the target resource in a PUT request is intended to
     1118   take the enclosed representation as a new or replacement value.
     1119   Hence, the intent of PUT is idempotent and visible to intermediaries,
     1120   even though the exact effect is only known by the origin server.
     1121</t>
     1122<t>
     1123   Proper interpretation of a PUT request presumes that the user agent
     1124   knows what target resource is desired.  A service that is intended
     1125   to select a proper URI on behalf of the client, after receiving
     1126   a state-changing request, &SHOULD; be implemented using the POST
     1127   method rather than PUT.  If the origin server will not make the
     1128   requested PUT state change to the target resource and instead
     1129   wishes to have it applied to a different resource, such as when the
     1130   resource has been moved to a different URI, then the origin server
     1131   &MUST; send a 301 (Moved Permanently) response; the user agent &MAY;
     1132   then make its own decision regarding whether or not to redirect the
     1133   request.
     1134</t>
     1135<t>
     1136   A PUT request applied to the target resource &MAY; have side-effects
     1137   on other resources.  For example, an article might have a URI for
     1138   identifying "the current version" (a resource) which is separate
     1139   from the URIs identifying each particular version (different
     1140   resources that at one point shared the same state as the current version
     1141   resource).  A successful PUT request on "the current version" URI might
     1142   therefore create a new version resource in addition to changing the
     1143   state of the target resource, and might also cause links to be added
     1144   between the related resources.
     1145</t>
     1146<t>
     1147   An origin server &SHOULD; reject any PUT request that contains a
     1148   Content-Range header field, since it might be misinterpreted as
     1149   partial content (or might be partial content that is being mistakenly
     1150   PUT as a full representation).  Partial content updates are
     1151   possible by targeting a separately identified resource with state
     1152   that overlaps a portion of the larger resource, or by using a
     1153   different method that has been specifically defined for partial
     1154   updates (for example, the PATCH method defined in
     1155   <xref target="RFC5789"/>).
    10711156</t>
    10721157<t>
    … …  
    10751160   request URI, those stored responses will be invalidated (see
    10761161   &p6-invalid;).
    1077 </t>
    1078 <t>
    1079    The fundamental difference between the POST and PUT requests is
    1080    reflected in the different meaning of the effective request URI. The URI in a
    1081    POST request identifies the resource that will handle the enclosed
    1082    representation. That resource might be a data-accepting process, a gateway to
    1083    some other protocol, or a document that accepts annotations.
    1084    In contrast, the URI in a PUT request identifies the resource for
    1085    which enclosed representation is a new or replacement value; the
    1086    user agent knows what URI is intended and the server &MUST-NOT; attempt
    1087    to apply the request to some other resource.
    1088    If the server desires that the request be applied to a different URI,
    1089    it &MUST; send a 301 (Moved Permanently) response; the user agent &MAY;
    1090    then make its own decision regarding whether or not to redirect the
    1091    request.
    1092 </t>
    1093 <t>
    1094    A single resource &MAY; be identified by many different URIs. For
    1095    example, an article might have a URI for identifying "the current
    1096    version" which is separate from the URI identifying each particular
    1097    version. In this case, a PUT request on a general URI might result in
    1098    several other URIs being defined by the origin server.
    1099 </t>
    1100 <t>
    1101    HTTP/1.1 does not define how a PUT method affects the state of an
    1102    origin server.
    1103 </t>
    1104 <t>
    1105    Header fields in a PUT request that are recognized as representation
    1106    metadata &SHOULD; be applied to the resource created or modified by
    1107    the PUT.  Unrecognized header fields &SHOULD; be ignored.
    11081162</t>
    11091163</section>
    … …  
    34713525  </front>
    34723526  <seriesInfo name="RFC" value="5322"/>
     3527</reference>
     3528
     3529<reference anchor='RFC5789'>
     3530  <front>
     3531    <title>PATCH Method for HTTP</title>
     3532    <author initials='L.' surname='Dusseault' fullname='L. Dusseault'>
     3533      <organization>Linden Lab</organization>
     3534    </author>
     3535    <author initials='J.' surname='Snell' fullname='J. Snell'>
     3536      <organization />
     3537    </author>
     3538    <date year='2010' month='March' />
     3539  </front>
     3540  <seriesInfo name='RFC' value='5789' />
    34733541</reference>
    34743542
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