Changeset 1253


Ignore:
Timestamp:
31/03/11 12:51:27 (11 years ago)
Author:
fielding@…
Message:

Rearrange sections to match the story (no content change).
Add reference to Part 6. Define "validator". Adjust titles.

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

Legend:

Unmodified
Added
Removed

  • draft-ietf-httpbis/latest/p4-conditional.html

    r1251 r1253  
    382382      <link rel="Index" href="#rfc.index">
    383383      <link rel="Chapter" title="1 Introduction" href="#rfc.section.1">
    384       <link rel="Chapter" title="2 Resource State Metadata" href="#rfc.section.2">
    385       <link rel="Chapter" title="3 Status Code Definitions" href="#rfc.section.3">
    386       <link rel="Chapter" title="4 Weak and Strong Validators" href="#rfc.section.4">
    387       <link rel="Chapter" title="5 Rules for When to Use Entity-tags and Last-Modified Dates" href="#rfc.section.5">
    388       <link rel="Chapter" title="6 Header Field Definitions" href="#rfc.section.6">
    389       <link rel="Chapter" title="7 IANA Considerations" href="#rfc.section.7">
    390       <link rel="Chapter" title="8 Security Considerations" href="#rfc.section.8">
    391       <link rel="Chapter" title="9 Acknowledgments" href="#rfc.section.9">
    392       <link rel="Chapter" href="#rfc.section.10" title="10 References">
     384      <link rel="Chapter" title="2 Resource State Metadata (Validators)" href="#rfc.section.2">
     385      <link rel="Chapter" title="3 Precondition Header Fields" href="#rfc.section.3">
     386      <link rel="Chapter" title="4 Status Code Definitions" href="#rfc.section.4">
     387      <link rel="Chapter" title="5 IANA Considerations" href="#rfc.section.5">
     388      <link rel="Chapter" title="6 Security Considerations" href="#rfc.section.6">
     389      <link rel="Chapter" title="7 Acknowledgments" href="#rfc.section.7">
     390      <link rel="Chapter" href="#rfc.section.8" title="8 References">
    393391      <link rel="Appendix" title="A Changes from RFC 2616" href="#rfc.section.A">
    394392      <link rel="Appendix" title="B Collected ABNF" href="#rfc.section.B">
    … …  
    538536            </ul>
    539537         </li>
    540          <li>2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#resource.metadata">Resource State Metadata</a><ul>
    541                <li>2.1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#entity.tags">Entity Tags</a><ul>
    542                      <li>2.1.1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#example.entity.tag.vs.conneg">Example: Entity-tags varying on Content-Negotiated Resources</a></li>
     538         <li>2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#resource.metadata">Resource State Metadata (Validators)</a><ul>
     539               <li>2.1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#header.last-modified">Last-Modified</a></li>
     540               <li>2.2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#entity.tags">Entity Tags</a><ul>
     541                     <li>2.2.1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#header.etag">ETag</a></li>
     542                     <li>2.2.2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#example.entity.tag.vs.conneg">Example: Entity-tags varying on Content-Negotiated Resources</a></li>
    543543                  </ul>
    544544               </li>
     545               <li>2.3&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#weak.and.strong.validators">Weak and Strong Validators</a></li>
     546               <li>2.4&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rules.for.when.to.use.entity.tags.and.last-modified.dates">Rules for When to Use Entity-tags and Last-Modified Dates</a></li>
    545547            </ul>
    546548         </li>
    547          <li>3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#status.code.definitions">Status Code Definitions</a><ul>
    548                <li>3.1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#status.304">304 Not Modified</a></li>
    549                <li>3.2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#status.412">412 Precondition Failed</a></li>
     549         <li>3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#header.fields">Precondition Header Fields</a><ul>
     550               <li>3.1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#header.if-match">If-Match</a></li>
     551               <li>3.2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#header.if-none-match">If-None-Match</a></li>
     552               <li>3.3&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#header.if-modified-since">If-Modified-Since</a></li>
     553               <li>3.4&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#header.if-unmodified-since">If-Unmodified-Since</a></li>
    550554            </ul>
    551555         </li>
    552          <li>4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#weak.and.strong.validators">Weak and Strong Validators</a></li>
    553          <li>5.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rules.for.when.to.use.entity.tags.and.last-modified.dates">Rules for When to Use Entity-tags and Last-Modified Dates</a></li>
    554          <li>6.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#header.fields">Header Field Definitions</a><ul>
    555                <li>6.1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#header.etag">ETag</a></li>
    556                <li>6.2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#header.if-match">If-Match</a></li>
    557                <li>6.3&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#header.if-modified-since">If-Modified-Since</a></li>
    558                <li>6.4&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#header.if-none-match">If-None-Match</a></li>
    559                <li>6.5&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#header.if-unmodified-since">If-Unmodified-Since</a></li>
    560                <li>6.6&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#header.last-modified">Last-Modified</a></li>
     556         <li>4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#status.code.definitions">Status Code Definitions</a><ul>
     557               <li>4.1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#status.304">304 Not Modified</a></li>
     558               <li>4.2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#status.412">412 Precondition Failed</a></li>
    561559            </ul>
    562560         </li>
    563          <li>7.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#IANA.considerations">IANA Considerations</a><ul>
    564                <li>7.1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#status.code.registration">Status Code Registration</a></li>
    565                <li>7.2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#header.field.registration">Header Field Registration</a></li>
     561         <li>5.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#IANA.considerations">IANA Considerations</a><ul>
     562               <li>5.1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#status.code.registration">Status Code Registration</a></li>
     563               <li>5.2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#header.field.registration">Header Field Registration</a></li>
    566564            </ul>
    567565         </li>
    568          <li>8.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#security.considerations">Security Considerations</a></li>
    569          <li>9.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#ack">Acknowledgments</a></li>
    570          <li>10.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.references">References</a><ul>
    571                <li>10.1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.references.1">Normative References</a></li>
    572                <li>10.2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.references.2">Informative References</a></li>
     566         <li>6.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#security.considerations">Security Considerations</a></li>
     567         <li>7.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#ack">Acknowledgments</a></li>
     568         <li>8.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.references">References</a><ul>
     569               <li>8.1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.references.1">Normative References</a></li>
     570               <li>8.2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.references.2">Informative References</a></li>
    573571            </ul>
    574572         </li>
    … …  
    599597      <p id="rfc.section.1.p.1">This document defines the HTTP/1.1 conditional request mechanisms, including both response metadata that can be used to indicate
    600598         or observe changes to resource state and request header fields that specify preconditions to be checked before performing
    601          the action given by the request method. Conditional GET requests are the most efficient mechanism for HTTP cache updates.
    602          Conditionals can be applied to state-changing methods, such as PUT and DELETE, to prevent the "lost update" problem: one client
    603          accidentally overwriting the work of another client that has been acting in parallel.
     599         the action given by the request method. Conditional GET requests are the most efficient mechanism for HTTP cache updates <a href="#Part6" id="rfc.xref.Part6.1"><cite title="HTTP/1.1, part 6: Caching">[Part6]</cite></a>. Conditionals can be applied to state-changing methods, such as PUT and DELETE, to prevent the "lost update" problem: one
     600         client accidentally overwriting the work of another client that has been acting in parallel.
    604601      </p>
    605602      <p id="rfc.section.1.p.2">Conditional request preconditions are based on the state of the target resource as a whole (its current value set) or the
    … …  
    635632  <a href="#notation" class="smpl">OWS</a>           = &lt;OWS, defined in <a href="#Part1" id="rfc.xref.Part1.3"><cite title="HTTP/1.1, part 1: URIs, Connections, and Message Parsing">[Part1]</cite></a>, <a href="p1-messaging.html#basic.rules" title="Basic Rules">Section 1.2.2</a>&gt;
    636633  <a href="#notation" class="smpl">HTTP-date</a>     = &lt;HTTP-date, defined in <a href="#Part1" id="rfc.xref.Part1.4"><cite title="HTTP/1.1, part 1: URIs, Connections, and Message Parsing">[Part1]</cite></a>, <a href="p1-messaging.html#date.time.formats.full.date" title="Date/Time Formats: Full Date">Section 6.1</a>&gt;
    637 </pre><h1 id="rfc.section.2"><a href="#rfc.section.2">2.</a>&nbsp;<a id="resource.metadata" href="#resource.metadata">Resource State Metadata</a></h1>
     634</pre><div id="rfc.iref.m.1"></div>
     635      <div id="rfc.iref.v.1"></div>
     636      <h1 id="rfc.section.2"><a href="#rfc.section.2">2.</a>&nbsp;<a id="resource.metadata" href="#resource.metadata">Resource State Metadata (Validators)</a></h1>
    638637      <p id="rfc.section.2.p.1">This specification defines two forms of metadata that are commonly used to observe resource state and test for preconditions:
    639638         modification dates and opaque entity tags. Additional metadata that reflects resource state has been defined by various extensions
    640          of HTTP, such as WebDAV <a href="#RFC4918" id="rfc.xref.RFC4918.1"><cite title="HTTP Extensions for Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)">[RFC4918]</cite></a>, that are beyond the scope of this specification.
    641       </p>
    642       <h2 id="rfc.section.2.1"><a href="#rfc.section.2.1">2.1</a>&nbsp;<a id="entity.tags" href="#entity.tags">Entity Tags</a></h2>
    643       <p id="rfc.section.2.1.p.1">Entity-tags are used for comparing two or more representations of the same resource. HTTP/1.1 uses entity-tags in the ETag
    644          (<a href="#header.etag" id="rfc.xref.header.etag.1" title="ETag">Section&nbsp;6.1</a>), If-Match (<a href="#header.if-match" id="rfc.xref.header.if-match.1" title="If-Match">Section&nbsp;6.2</a>), If-None-Match (<a href="#header.if-none-match" id="rfc.xref.header.if-none-match.1" title="If-None-Match">Section&nbsp;6.4</a>), and If-Range (<a href="p5-range.html#header.if-range" title="If-Range">Section 5.3</a> of <a href="#Part5" id="rfc.xref.Part5.1"><cite title="HTTP/1.1, part 5: Range Requests and Partial Responses">[Part5]</cite></a>) header fields. The definition of how they are used and compared as cache validators is in <a href="#weak.and.strong.validators" title="Weak and Strong Validators">Section&nbsp;4</a>. An entity-tag consists of an opaque quoted string, possibly prefixed by a weakness indicator.
    645       </p>
    646       <div id="rfc.figure.u.2"></div><pre class="inline"><span id="rfc.iref.g.1"></span><span id="rfc.iref.g.2"></span><span id="rfc.iref.g.3"></span>  <a href="#entity.tags" class="smpl">entity-tag</a> = [ <a href="#entity.tags" class="smpl">weak</a> ] <a href="#entity.tags" class="smpl">opaque-tag</a>
     639         of HTTP, such as WebDAV <a href="#RFC4918" id="rfc.xref.RFC4918.1"><cite title="HTTP Extensions for Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)">[RFC4918]</cite></a>, that are beyond the scope of this specification. Such metadata is referred to as a "<dfn>validator</dfn>" when it is used within a precondition.
     640      </p>
     641      <div id="rfc.iref.l.1"></div>
     642      <div id="rfc.iref.h.1"></div>
     643      <h2 id="rfc.section.2.1"><a href="#rfc.section.2.1">2.1</a>&nbsp;<a id="header.last-modified" href="#header.last-modified">Last-Modified</a></h2>
     644      <p id="rfc.section.2.1.p.1">The "Last-Modified" header field indicates the date and time at which the origin server believes the representation was last
     645         modified.
     646      </p>
     647      <div id="rfc.figure.u.2"></div><pre class="inline"><span id="rfc.iref.g.1"></span>  <a href="#header.last-modified" class="smpl">Last-Modified</a> = <a href="#notation" class="smpl">HTTP-date</a>
     648</pre><p id="rfc.section.2.1.p.3">An example of its use is</p>
     649      <div id="rfc.figure.u.3"></div><pre class="text">  Last-Modified: Tue, 15 Nov 1994 12:45:26 GMT
     650</pre><p id="rfc.section.2.1.p.5">A representation is typically the sum of many parts behind the resource interface. The last-modified time would usually be
     651         the most recent time that any of those parts were changed. How that value is determined for any given resource is an implementation
     652         detail beyond the scope of this specification. What matters to HTTP is how recipients of the Last-Modified header field can
     653         use its value to make conditional requests and test the validity of locally cached responses.
     654      </p>
     655      <p id="rfc.section.2.1.p.6">An origin server <em class="bcp14">MUST NOT</em> send a Last-Modified date which is later than the server's time of message origination. In such cases, where the resource's
     656         last modification would indicate some time in the future, the server <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> replace that date with the message origination date.
     657      </p>
     658      <p id="rfc.section.2.1.p.7">An origin server <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> obtain the Last-Modified value of the representation as close as possible to the time that it generates the Date value of
     659         its response. This allows a recipient to make an accurate assessment of the representation's modification time, especially
     660         if the representation changes near the time that the response is generated.
     661      </p>
     662      <p id="rfc.section.2.1.p.8">HTTP/1.1 servers <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> send Last-Modified whenever feasible.
     663      </p>
     664      <p id="rfc.section.2.1.p.9">The Last-Modified header field value is often used as a cache validator. In simple terms, a cache entry is considered to be
     665         valid if the representation has not been modified since the Last-Modified value.
     666      </p>
     667      <h2 id="rfc.section.2.2"><a href="#rfc.section.2.2">2.2</a>&nbsp;<a id="entity.tags" href="#entity.tags">Entity Tags</a></h2>
     668      <p id="rfc.section.2.2.p.1">Entity-tags are used for comparing two or more representations of the same resource. HTTP/1.1 uses entity-tags in the ETag
     669         (<a href="#header.etag" id="rfc.xref.header.etag.1" title="ETag">Section&nbsp;2.2.1</a>), If-Match (<a href="#header.if-match" id="rfc.xref.header.if-match.1" title="If-Match">Section&nbsp;3.1</a>), If-None-Match (<a href="#header.if-none-match" id="rfc.xref.header.if-none-match.1" title="If-None-Match">Section&nbsp;3.2</a>), and If-Range (<a href="p5-range.html#header.if-range" title="If-Range">Section 5.3</a> of <a href="#Part5" id="rfc.xref.Part5.1"><cite title="HTTP/1.1, part 5: Range Requests and Partial Responses">[Part5]</cite></a>) header fields. The definition of how they are used and compared as cache validators is in <a href="#weak.and.strong.validators" title="Weak and Strong Validators">Section&nbsp;2.3</a>. An entity-tag consists of an opaque quoted string, possibly prefixed by a weakness indicator.
     670      </p>
     671      <div id="rfc.figure.u.4"></div><pre class="inline"><span id="rfc.iref.g.2"></span><span id="rfc.iref.g.3"></span><span id="rfc.iref.g.4"></span>  <a href="#entity.tags" class="smpl">entity-tag</a> = [ <a href="#entity.tags" class="smpl">weak</a> ] <a href="#entity.tags" class="smpl">opaque-tag</a>
    647672  <a href="#entity.tags" class="smpl">weak</a>       = %x57.2F ; "W/", case-sensitive
    648673  <a href="#entity.tags" class="smpl">opaque-tag</a> = <a href="#notation" class="smpl">quoted-string</a>
    649 </pre><p id="rfc.section.2.1.p.3">A "strong entity-tag" <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> be shared by two representations of a resource only if they are equivalent by octet equality.
    650       </p>
    651       <p id="rfc.section.2.1.p.4">A "weak entity-tag", indicated by the "W/" prefix, <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> be shared by two representations of a resource. A weak entity-tag can only be used for weak comparison.
    652       </p>
    653       <p id="rfc.section.2.1.p.5">Cache entries might persist for arbitrarily long periods, regardless of expiration times, so it is inappropriate to expect
     674</pre><p id="rfc.section.2.2.p.3">A "strong entity-tag" <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> be shared by two representations of a resource only if they are equivalent by octet equality.
     675      </p>
     676      <p id="rfc.section.2.2.p.4">A "weak entity-tag", indicated by the "W/" prefix, <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> be shared by two representations of a resource. A weak entity-tag can only be used for weak comparison.
     677      </p>
     678      <p id="rfc.section.2.2.p.5">Cache entries might persist for arbitrarily long periods, regardless of expiration times, so it is inappropriate to expect
    654679         that a cache will never again attempt to validate an entry using a validator that it obtained at some point in the past. A
    655680         strong entity-tag <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> be unique across all versions of all representations associated with a particular resource over time. However, there is no
    … …  
    657682         of multiple resources at the same time and does not imply that those representations are equivalent).
    658683      </p>
    659       <h3 id="rfc.section.2.1.1"><a href="#rfc.section.2.1.1">2.1.1</a>&nbsp;<a id="example.entity.tag.vs.conneg" href="#example.entity.tag.vs.conneg">Example: Entity-tags varying on Content-Negotiated Resources</a></h3>
    660       <p id="rfc.section.2.1.1.p.1">Consider a resource that is subject to content negotiation (<a href="p3-payload.html#content.negotiation" title="Content Negotiation">Section 5</a> of <a href="#Part3" id="rfc.xref.Part3.1"><cite title="HTTP/1.1, part 3: Message Payload and Content Negotiation">[Part3]</cite></a>), and where the representations returned upon a GET request vary based on the Accept-Encoding request header field (<a href="p3-payload.html#header.accept-encoding" title="Accept-Encoding">Section 6.3</a> of <a href="#Part3" id="rfc.xref.Part3.2"><cite title="HTTP/1.1, part 3: Message Payload and Content Negotiation">[Part3]</cite></a>):
    661       </p>
    662       <div id="rfc.figure.u.3"></div>
     684      <div id="rfc.iref.e.1"></div>
     685      <div id="rfc.iref.h.2"></div>
     686      <h3 id="rfc.section.2.2.1"><a href="#rfc.section.2.2.1">2.2.1</a>&nbsp;<a id="header.etag" href="#header.etag">ETag</a></h3>
     687      <p id="rfc.section.2.2.1.p.1">The "ETag" header field provides the current value of the entity-tag (see <a href="#entity.tags" title="Entity Tags">Section&nbsp;2.2</a>) for one representation of the target resource. An entity-tag is intended for use as a resource-local identifier for differentiating
     688         between representations of the same resource that vary over time or via content negotiation (see <a href="#weak.and.strong.validators" title="Weak and Strong Validators">Section&nbsp;2.3</a>).
     689      </p>
     690      <div id="rfc.figure.u.5"></div><pre class="inline"><span id="rfc.iref.g.5"></span>  <a href="#header.etag" class="smpl">ETag</a> = <a href="#entity.tags" class="smpl">entity-tag</a>
     691</pre><div id="rfc.figure.u.6"></div>
     692      <p>Examples:</p>  <pre class="text">  ETag: "xyzzy"
     693  ETag: W/"xyzzy"
     694  ETag: ""
     695</pre><p id="rfc.section.2.2.1.p.4">An entity-tag provides an "opaque" cache validator that allows for more reliable validation than modification dates in situations
     696         where it is inconvenient to store modification dates, where the one-second resolution of HTTP date values is not sufficient,
     697         or where the origin server wishes to avoid certain paradoxes that might arise from the use of modification dates.
     698      </p>
     699      <p id="rfc.section.2.2.1.p.5">The principle behind entity-tags is that only the service author knows the semantics of a resource well enough to select an
     700         appropriate cache validation mechanism, and the specification of any validator comparison function more complex than byte-equality
     701         would open up a can of worms. Thus, comparisons of any other header fields (except Last-Modified, for compatibility with HTTP/1.0)
     702         are never used for purposes of validating a cache entry.
     703      </p>
     704      <h3 id="rfc.section.2.2.2"><a href="#rfc.section.2.2.2">2.2.2</a>&nbsp;<a id="example.entity.tag.vs.conneg" href="#example.entity.tag.vs.conneg">Example: Entity-tags varying on Content-Negotiated Resources</a></h3>
     705      <p id="rfc.section.2.2.2.p.1">Consider a resource that is subject to content negotiation (<a href="p3-payload.html#content.negotiation" title="Content Negotiation">Section 5</a> of <a href="#Part3" id="rfc.xref.Part3.1"><cite title="HTTP/1.1, part 3: Message Payload and Content Negotiation">[Part3]</cite></a>), and where the representations returned upon a GET request vary based on the Accept-Encoding request header field (<a href="p3-payload.html#header.accept-encoding" title="Accept-Encoding">Section 6.3</a> of <a href="#Part3" id="rfc.xref.Part3.2"><cite title="HTTP/1.1, part 3: Message Payload and Content Negotiation">[Part3]</cite></a>):
     706      </p>
     707      <div id="rfc.figure.u.7"></div>
    663708      <p>&gt;&gt; Request:</p><pre class="text2">GET /index HTTP/1.1
    664709Host: www.example.com
    665710Accept-Encoding: gzip
    666711
    667 </pre><p id="rfc.section.2.1.1.p.3">In this case, the response might or might not use the gzip content coding. If it does not, the response might look like:</p>
    668       <div id="rfc.figure.u.4"></div>
     712</pre><p id="rfc.section.2.2.2.p.3">In this case, the response might or might not use the gzip content coding. If it does not, the response might look like:</p>
     713      <div id="rfc.figure.u.8"></div>
    669714      <p>&gt;&gt; Response:</p><pre class="text">HTTP/1.1 200 OK
    670715Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2010 00:05:00 GMT
    … …  
    679724Hello World!
    680725Hello World!
    681 </span></pre><p id="rfc.section.2.1.1.p.5">An alternative representation that does use gzip content coding would be:</p>
    682       <div id="rfc.figure.u.5"></div>
     726</span></pre><p id="rfc.section.2.2.2.p.5">An alternative representation that does use gzip content coding would be:</p>
     727      <div id="rfc.figure.u.9"></div>
    683728      <p>&gt;&gt; Response:</p><pre class="text">HTTP/1.1 200 OK
    684729Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2010 00:05:00 GMT
    … …  
    689734Content-Encoding: gzip
    690735
    691 <em>...binary data...</em></pre><div class="note" id="rfc.section.2.1.1.p.7">
     736<em>...binary data...</em></pre><div class="note" id="rfc.section.2.2.2.p.7">
    692737         <p> <b>Note:</b> Content codings are a property of the representation, so therefore an entity-tag of an encoded representation must be distinct
    693738            from an unencoded representation to prevent conflicts during cache updates and range requests. In contrast, transfer codings
    … …  
    695740         </p>
    696741      </div>
    697       <h1 id="rfc.section.3"><a href="#rfc.section.3">3.</a>&nbsp;<a id="status.code.definitions" href="#status.code.definitions">Status Code Definitions</a></h1>
    698       <div id="rfc.iref.4"></div>
    699       <div id="rfc.iref.s.2"></div>
    700       <h2 id="rfc.section.3.1"><a href="#rfc.section.3.1">3.1</a>&nbsp;<a id="status.304" href="#status.304">304 Not Modified</a></h2>
    701       <p id="rfc.section.3.1.p.1">The 304 status code indicates that a conditional GET request has been received and would have resulted in a 200 (OK) response
    702          if it were not for the fact that the condition has evaluated to false. In other words, there is no need for the server to
    703          transfer a representation of the target resource because the client's request indicates that it already has a valid representation,
    704          as indicated by the 304 response header fields, and is therefore redirecting the client to make use of that stored representation
    705          as if it were the payload of a 200 response. The 304 response <em class="bcp14">MUST NOT</em> contain a message-body, and thus is always terminated by the first empty line after the header fields.
    706       </p>
    707       <p id="rfc.section.3.1.p.2">A 304 response <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> include a Date header field (<a href="p1-messaging.html#header.date" title="Date">Section 9.3</a> of <a href="#Part1" id="rfc.xref.Part1.6"><cite title="HTTP/1.1, part 1: URIs, Connections, and Message Parsing">[Part1]</cite></a>) unless its omission is required by <a href="p1-messaging.html#clockless.origin.server.operation" title="Clockless Origin Server Operation">Section 9.3.1</a> of <a href="#Part1" id="rfc.xref.Part1.7"><cite title="HTTP/1.1, part 1: URIs, Connections, and Message Parsing">[Part1]</cite></a>. If a 200 response to the same request would have included any of the header fields Cache-Control, Content-Location, ETag,
    708          Expires, Last-Modified, or Vary, then those same header fields <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> be sent in a 304 response.
    709       </p>
    710       <p id="rfc.section.3.1.p.3">Since the goal of a 304 response is to minimize information transfer when the recipient already has one or more cached representations,
    711          the response <em class="bcp14">SHOULD NOT</em> include representation metadata other than the above listed fields unless said metadata exists for the purpose of guiding
    712          cache updates (e.g., future HTTP extensions).
    713       </p>
    714       <p id="rfc.section.3.1.p.4">If the recipient of a 304 response does not have a cached representation corresponding to the entity-tag indicated by the
    715          304 response, then the recipient <em class="bcp14">MUST NOT</em> use the 304 to update its own cache. If this conditional request originated with an outbound client, such as a user agent
    716          with its own cache sending a conditional GET to a shared proxy, then the 304 response <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> be forwarded to the outbound client. Otherwise, the recipient <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> disregard the 304 response and repeat the request without any preconditions.
    717       </p>
    718       <p id="rfc.section.3.1.p.5">If a cache uses a received 304 response to update a cache entry, the cache <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> update the entry to reflect any new field values given in the response.
    719       </p>
    720       <div id="rfc.iref.5"></div>
    721       <div id="rfc.iref.s.3"></div>
    722       <h2 id="rfc.section.3.2"><a href="#rfc.section.3.2">3.2</a>&nbsp;<a id="status.412" href="#status.412">412 Precondition Failed</a></h2>
    723       <p id="rfc.section.3.2.p.1">The 412 status code indicates that one or more preconditions given in the request header fields evaluated to false when tested
    724          on the server. This response code allows the client to place preconditions on the current resource state (its current representations
    725          and metadata) and thus prevent the request method from being applied if the target resource is in an unexpected state.
    726       </p>
    727       <h1 id="rfc.section.4"><a href="#rfc.section.4">4.</a>&nbsp;<a id="weak.and.strong.validators" href="#weak.and.strong.validators">Weak and Strong Validators</a></h1>
    728       <p id="rfc.section.4.p.1">Since both origin servers and caches will compare two validators to decide if they represent the same or different representations,
     742      <h2 id="rfc.section.2.3"><a href="#rfc.section.2.3">2.3</a>&nbsp;<a id="weak.and.strong.validators" href="#weak.and.strong.validators">Weak and Strong Validators</a></h2>
     743      <p id="rfc.section.2.3.p.1">Since both origin servers and caches will compare two validators to decide if they represent the same or different representations,
    729744         one normally would expect that if the representation (including both representation header fields and representation body)
    730745         changes in any way, then the associated validator would change as well. If this is true, then we call this validator a "strong
    … …  
    732747         is changed.
    733748      </p>
    734       <p id="rfc.section.4.p.2">However, there might be cases when a server prefers to change the validator only when it desires cached representations to
     749      <p id="rfc.section.2.3.p.2">However, there might be cases when a server prefers to change the validator only when it desires cached representations to
    735750         be invalidated. For example, the representation of a weather report that changes in content every second, based on dynamic
    736751         measurements, might be grouped into sets of equivalent representations (from the origin server's perspective) in order to
    … …  
    738753         or weather quality). A validator that does not always change when the representation changes is a "weak validator".
    739754      </p>
    740       <p id="rfc.section.4.p.3">An entity-tag is normally a strong validator, but the protocol provides a mechanism to tag an entity-tag as "weak". One can
     755      <p id="rfc.section.2.3.p.3">An entity-tag is normally a strong validator, but the protocol provides a mechanism to tag an entity-tag as "weak". One can
    741756         think of a strong validator as part of an identifier for a specific representation, whereas a weak validator is part of an
    742757         identifier for a set of equivalent representations (where this notion of equivalence is entirely governed by the origin server
    … …  
    752767         </li>
    753768      </ul>
    754       <p id="rfc.section.4.p.4">A strong entity-tag <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> change whenever the associated representation changes in any way. A weak entity-tag <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> change whenever the origin server considers prior representations to be unacceptable as a substitute for the current representation.
     769      <p id="rfc.section.2.3.p.4">A strong entity-tag <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> change whenever the associated representation changes in any way. A weak entity-tag <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> change whenever the origin server considers prior representations to be unacceptable as a substitute for the current representation.
    755770         In other words, a weak entity tag <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> change whenever the origin server wants caches to invalidate old responses.
    756771      </p>
    757       <p id="rfc.section.4.p.5">A "use" of a validator is either when a client generates a request and includes the validator in a validating header field,
     772      <p id="rfc.section.2.3.p.5">A "use" of a validator is either when a client generates a request and includes the validator in a validating header field,
    758773         or when a server compares two validators.
    759774      </p>
    760       <p id="rfc.section.4.p.6">Strong validators are usable in any context. Weak validators are only usable in contexts that do not depend on exact equality
     775      <p id="rfc.section.2.3.p.6">Strong validators are usable in any context. Weak validators are only usable in contexts that do not depend on exact equality
    761776         of a representation. For example, either kind is usable for a normal conditional GET. However, only a strong validator is
    762777         usable for range retrieval (<a href="#Part5" id="rfc.xref.Part5.2"><cite title="HTTP/1.1, part 5: Range Requests and Partial Responses">[Part5]</cite></a>), since otherwise the client might end up with an internally inconsistent representation. Clients <em class="bcp14">MUST NOT</em> use weak validators in range requests.
    763778      </p>
    764       <p id="rfc.section.4.p.7">The only function that HTTP/1.1 defines on validators is comparison. There are two validator comparison functions, depending
     779      <p id="rfc.section.2.3.p.7">The only function that HTTP/1.1 defines on validators is comparison. There are two validator comparison functions, depending
    765780         on whether the comparison context allows the use of weak validators or not:
    766781      </p>
    … …  
    771786         </li>
    772787      </ul>
    773       <p id="rfc.section.4.p.8">The example below shows the results for a set of entity-tag pairs, and both the weak and strong comparison function results:</p>
     788      <p id="rfc.section.2.3.p.8">The example below shows the results for a set of entity-tag pairs, and both the weak and strong comparison function results:</p>
    774789      <div id="rfc.table.u.1">
    775790         <table class="tt full left" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0">
    … …  
    810825         </table>
    811826      </div>
    812       <p id="rfc.section.4.p.9">An entity-tag is strong unless it is explicitly tagged as weak. <a href="#entity.tags" title="Entity Tags">Section&nbsp;2.1</a> gives the syntax for entity-tags.
    813       </p>
    814       <p id="rfc.section.4.p.10">A Last-Modified time, when used as a validator in a request, is implicitly weak unless it is possible to deduce that it is
     827      <p id="rfc.section.2.3.p.9">An entity-tag is strong unless it is explicitly tagged as weak. <a href="#entity.tags" title="Entity Tags">Section&nbsp;2.2</a> gives the syntax for entity-tags.
     828      </p>
     829      <p id="rfc.section.2.3.p.10">A Last-Modified time, when used as a validator in a request, is implicitly weak unless it is possible to deduce that it is
    815830         strong, using the following rules:
    816831      </p>
    … …  
    821836         </li>
    822837      </ul>
    823       <p id="rfc.section.4.p.11">or </p>
     838      <p id="rfc.section.2.3.p.11">or </p>
    824839      <ul>
    825840         <li>The validator is about to be used by a client in an If-Modified-Since or If-Unmodified-Since header field, because the client
    … …  
    829844         <li>The presented Last-Modified time is at least 60 seconds before the Date value.</li>
    830845      </ul>
    831       <p id="rfc.section.4.p.12">or </p>
     846      <p id="rfc.section.2.3.p.12">or </p>
    832847      <ul>
    833848         <li>The validator is being compared by an intermediate cache to the validator stored in its cache entry for the representation,
    … …  
    837852         <li>The presented Last-Modified time is at least 60 seconds before the Date value.</li>
    838853      </ul>
    839       <p id="rfc.section.4.p.13">This method relies on the fact that if two different responses were sent by the origin server during the same second, but
     854      <p id="rfc.section.2.3.p.13">This method relies on the fact that if two different responses were sent by the origin server during the same second, but
    840855         both had the same Last-Modified time, then at least one of those responses would have a Date value equal to its Last-Modified
    841856         time. The arbitrary 60-second limit guards against the possibility that the Date and Last-Modified values are generated from
    842857         different clocks, or at somewhat different times during the preparation of the response. An implementation <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> use a value larger than 60 seconds, if it is believed that 60 seconds is too short.
    843858      </p>
    844       <p id="rfc.section.4.p.14">If a client wishes to perform a sub-range retrieval on a value for which it has only a Last-Modified time and no opaque validator,
     859      <p id="rfc.section.2.3.p.14">If a client wishes to perform a sub-range retrieval on a value for which it has only a Last-Modified time and no opaque validator,
    845860         it <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> do this only if the Last-Modified time is strong in the sense described here.
    846861      </p>
    847       <p id="rfc.section.4.p.15">A cache or origin server receiving a conditional range request (<a href="#Part5" id="rfc.xref.Part5.3"><cite title="HTTP/1.1, part 5: Range Requests and Partial Responses">[Part5]</cite></a>) <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> use the strong comparison function to evaluate the condition.
    848       </p>
    849       <p id="rfc.section.4.p.16">These rules allow HTTP/1.1 caches and clients to safely perform sub-range retrievals on values that have been obtained from
     862      <p id="rfc.section.2.3.p.15">A cache or origin server receiving a conditional range request (<a href="#Part5" id="rfc.xref.Part5.3"><cite title="HTTP/1.1, part 5: Range Requests and Partial Responses">[Part5]</cite></a>) <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> use the strong comparison function to evaluate the condition.
     863      </p>
     864      <p id="rfc.section.2.3.p.16">These rules allow HTTP/1.1 caches and clients to safely perform sub-range retrievals on values that have been obtained from
    850865         HTTP/1.0 servers.
    851866      </p>
    852       <h1 id="rfc.section.5"><a href="#rfc.section.5">5.</a>&nbsp;<a id="rules.for.when.to.use.entity.tags.and.last-modified.dates" href="#rules.for.when.to.use.entity.tags.and.last-modified.dates">Rules for When to Use Entity-tags and Last-Modified Dates</a></h1>
    853       <p id="rfc.section.5.p.1">We adopt a set of rules and recommendations for origin servers, clients, and caches regarding when various validator types
     867      <h2 id="rfc.section.2.4"><a href="#rfc.section.2.4">2.4</a>&nbsp;<a id="rules.for.when.to.use.entity.tags.and.last-modified.dates" href="#rules.for.when.to.use.entity.tags.and.last-modified.dates">Rules for When to Use Entity-tags and Last-Modified Dates</a></h2>
     868      <p id="rfc.section.2.4.p.1">We adopt a set of rules and recommendations for origin servers, clients, and caches regarding when various validator types
    854869         ought to be used, and for what purposes.
    855870      </p>
    856       <p id="rfc.section.5.p.2">HTTP/1.1 origin servers: </p>
     871      <p id="rfc.section.2.4.p.2">HTTP/1.1 origin servers: </p>
    857872      <ul>
    858873         <li><em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> send an entity-tag validator unless it is not feasible to generate one.
    … …  
    864879         </li>
    865880      </ul>
    866       <p id="rfc.section.5.p.3">In other words, the preferred behavior for an HTTP/1.1 origin server is to send both a strong entity-tag and a Last-Modified
     881      <p id="rfc.section.2.4.p.3">In other words, the preferred behavior for an HTTP/1.1 origin server is to send both a strong entity-tag and a Last-Modified
    867882         value.
    868883      </p>
    869       <p id="rfc.section.5.p.4">HTTP/1.1 clients: </p>
     884      <p id="rfc.section.2.4.p.4">HTTP/1.1 clients: </p>
    870885      <ul>
    871886         <li><em class="bcp14">MUST</em> use that entity-tag in any cache-conditional request (using If-Match or If-None-Match) if an entity-tag has been provided
    … …  
    882897         </li>
    883898      </ul>
    884       <p id="rfc.section.5.p.5">An HTTP/1.1 origin server, upon receiving a conditional request that includes both a Last-Modified date (e.g., in an If-Modified-Since
     899      <p id="rfc.section.2.4.p.5">An HTTP/1.1 origin server, upon receiving a conditional request that includes both a Last-Modified date (e.g., in an If-Modified-Since
    885900         or If-Unmodified-Since header field) and one or more entity-tags (e.g., in an If-Match, If-None-Match, or If-Range header
    886901         field) as cache validators, <em class="bcp14">MUST NOT</em> return a response status code of 304 (Not Modified) unless doing so is consistent with all of the conditional header fields
    887902         in the request.
    888903      </p>
    889       <p id="rfc.section.5.p.6">An HTTP/1.1 caching proxy, upon receiving a conditional request that includes both a Last-Modified date and one or more entity-tags
     904      <p id="rfc.section.2.4.p.6">An HTTP/1.1 caching proxy, upon receiving a conditional request that includes both a Last-Modified date and one or more entity-tags
    890905         as cache validators, <em class="bcp14">MUST NOT</em> return a locally cached response to the client unless that cached response is consistent with all of the conditional header
    891906         fields in the request.
    … …  
    902917         </li>
    903918      </ul>
    904       <h1 id="rfc.section.6"><a href="#rfc.section.6">6.</a>&nbsp;<a id="header.fields" href="#header.fields">Header Field Definitions</a></h1>
    905       <p id="rfc.section.6.p.1">This section defines the syntax and semantics of HTTP/1.1 header fields related to conditional requests.</p>
    906       <div id="rfc.iref.e.1"></div>
    907       <div id="rfc.iref.h.1"></div>
    908       <h2 id="rfc.section.6.1"><a href="#rfc.section.6.1">6.1</a>&nbsp;<a id="header.etag" href="#header.etag">ETag</a></h2>
    909       <p id="rfc.section.6.1.p.1">The "ETag" header field provides the current value of the entity-tag (see <a href="#entity.tags" title="Entity Tags">Section&nbsp;2.1</a>) for one representation of the target resource. An entity-tag is intended for use as a resource-local identifier for differentiating
    910          between representations of the same resource that vary over time or via content negotiation (see <a href="#weak.and.strong.validators" title="Weak and Strong Validators">Section&nbsp;4</a>).
    911       </p>
    912       <div id="rfc.figure.u.6"></div><pre class="inline"><span id="rfc.iref.g.4"></span>  <a href="#header.etag" class="smpl">ETag</a> = <a href="#entity.tags" class="smpl">entity-tag</a>
    913 </pre><div id="rfc.figure.u.7"></div>
    914       <p>Examples:</p>  <pre class="text">  ETag: "xyzzy"
    915   ETag: W/"xyzzy"
    916   ETag: ""
    917 </pre><p id="rfc.section.6.1.p.4">An entity-tag provides an "opaque" cache validator that allows for more reliable validation than modification dates in situations
    918          where it is inconvenient to store modification dates, where the one-second resolution of HTTP date values is not sufficient,
    919          or where the origin server wishes to avoid certain paradoxes that might arise from the use of modification dates.
    920       </p>
    921       <p id="rfc.section.6.1.p.5">The principle behind entity-tags is that only the service author knows the semantics of a resource well enough to select an
    922          appropriate cache validation mechanism, and the specification of any validator comparison function more complex than byte-equality
    923          would open up a can of worms. Thus, comparisons of any other header fields (except Last-Modified, for compatibility with HTTP/1.0)
    924          are never used for purposes of validating a cache entry.
    925       </p>
     919      <h1 id="rfc.section.3"><a href="#rfc.section.3">3.</a>&nbsp;<a id="header.fields" href="#header.fields">Precondition Header Fields</a></h1>
     920      <p id="rfc.section.3.p.1">This section defines the syntax and semantics of HTTP/1.1 header fields for applying preconditions on requests.</p>
    926921      <div id="rfc.iref.i.1"></div>
    927       <div id="rfc.iref.h.2"></div>
    928       <h2 id="rfc.section.6.2"><a href="#rfc.section.6.2">6.2</a>&nbsp;<a id="header.if-match" href="#header.if-match">If-Match</a></h2>
    929       <p id="rfc.section.6.2.p.1">The "If-Match" header field <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> be used to make a request method conditional on the current existence or value of an entity-tag for one or more representations
     922      <div id="rfc.iref.h.3"></div>
     923      <h2 id="rfc.section.3.1"><a href="#rfc.section.3.1">3.1</a>&nbsp;<a id="header.if-match" href="#header.if-match">If-Match</a></h2>
     924      <p id="rfc.section.3.1.p.1">The "If-Match" header field <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> be used to make a request method conditional on the current existence or value of an entity-tag for one or more representations
    930925         of the target resource. If-Match is generally useful for resource update requests, such as PUT requests, as a means for protecting
    931926         against accidental overwrites when multiple clients are acting in parallel on the same resource (i.e., the "lost update" problem).
    932927         An If-Match field-value of "*" places the precondition on the existence of any current representation for the target resource.
    933928      </p>
    934       <div id="rfc.figure.u.8"></div><pre class="inline"><span id="rfc.iref.g.5"></span>  <a href="#header.if-match" class="smpl">If-Match</a> = "*" / 1#<a href="#entity.tags" class="smpl">entity-tag</a>
    935 </pre><p id="rfc.section.6.2.p.3">If any of the entity-tags listed in the If-Match field value match the entity-tag of the selected representation for the target
     929      <div id="rfc.figure.u.10"></div><pre class="inline"><span id="rfc.iref.g.6"></span>  <a href="#header.if-match" class="smpl">If-Match</a> = "*" / 1#<a href="#entity.tags" class="smpl">entity-tag</a>
     930</pre><p id="rfc.section.3.1.p.3">If any of the entity-tags listed in the If-Match field value match the entity-tag of the selected representation for the target
    936931         resource, or if "*" is given and any current representation exists for the target resource, then the server <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> perform the request method as if the If-Match header field was not present.
    937932      </p>
    938       <p id="rfc.section.6.2.p.4">If none of the entity-tags match, or if "*" is given and no current representation exists, the server <em class="bcp14">MUST NOT</em> perform the requested method. Instead, the server <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> respond with the 412 (Precondition Failed) status code.
    939       </p>
    940       <p id="rfc.section.6.2.p.5">If the request would, without the If-Match header field, result in anything other than a 2xx or 412 status code, then the
     933      <p id="rfc.section.3.1.p.4">If none of the entity-tags match, or if "*" is given and no current representation exists, the server <em class="bcp14">MUST NOT</em> perform the requested method. Instead, the server <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> respond with the 412 (Precondition Failed) status code.
     934      </p>
     935      <p id="rfc.section.3.1.p.5">If the request would, without the If-Match header field, result in anything other than a 2xx or 412 status code, then the
    941936         If-Match header field <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> be ignored.
    942937      </p>
    943       <p id="rfc.section.6.2.p.6">Examples:</p>
    944       <div id="rfc.figure.u.9"></div><pre class="text">  If-Match: "xyzzy"
     938      <p id="rfc.section.3.1.p.6">Examples:</p>
     939      <div id="rfc.figure.u.11"></div><pre class="text">  If-Match: "xyzzy"
    945940  If-Match: "xyzzy", "r2d2xxxx", "c3piozzzz"
    946941  If-Match: *
    947 </pre><p id="rfc.section.6.2.p.8">The result of a request having both an If-Match header field and either an If-None-Match or an If-Modified-Since header fields
     942</pre><p id="rfc.section.3.1.p.8">The result of a request having both an If-Match header field and either an If-None-Match or an If-Modified-Since header fields
    948943         is undefined by this specification.
    949944      </p>
    950945      <div id="rfc.iref.i.2"></div>
    951       <div id="rfc.iref.h.3"></div>
    952       <h2 id="rfc.section.6.3"><a href="#rfc.section.6.3">6.3</a>&nbsp;<a id="header.if-modified-since" href="#header.if-modified-since">If-Modified-Since</a></h2>
    953       <p id="rfc.section.6.3.p.1">The "If-Modified-Since" header field <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> be used to make a request method conditional by modification date: if the selected representation has not been modified since
     946      <div id="rfc.iref.h.4"></div>
     947      <h2 id="rfc.section.3.2"><a href="#rfc.section.3.2">3.2</a>&nbsp;<a id="header.if-none-match" href="#header.if-none-match">If-None-Match</a></h2>
     948      <p id="rfc.section.3.2.p.1">The "If-None-Match" header field <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> be used to make a request method conditional on not matching any of the current entity-tag values for representations of the
     949         target resource. If-None-Match is primarily used in conditional GET requests to enable efficient updates of cached information
     950         with a minimum amount of transaction overhead. A client that has one or more representations previously obtained from the
     951         target resource can send If-None-Match with a list of the associated entity-tags in the hope of receiving a 304 response if
     952         at least one of those representations matches the selected representation.
     953      </p>
     954      <p id="rfc.section.3.2.p.2">If-None-Match MAY also be used with a value of "*" to prevent an unsafe request method (e.g., PUT) from inadvertently modifying
     955         an existing representation of the target resource when the client believes that the resource does not have a current representation.
     956         This is a variation on the "lost update" problem that might arise if more than one client attempts to create an initial representation
     957         for the target resource.
     958      </p>
     959      <div id="rfc.figure.u.12"></div><pre class="inline"><span id="rfc.iref.g.7"></span>  <a href="#header.if-none-match" class="smpl">If-None-Match</a> = "*" / 1#<a href="#entity.tags" class="smpl">entity-tag</a>
     960</pre><p id="rfc.section.3.2.p.4">If any of the entity-tags listed in the If-None-Match field-value match the entity-tag of the selected representation, or
     961         if "*" is given and any current representation exists for that resource, then the server <em class="bcp14">MUST NOT</em> perform the requested method. Instead, if the request method was GET or HEAD, the server <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> respond with a 304 (Not Modified) status code, including the cache-related header fields (particularly ETag) of the selected
     962         representation that has a matching entity-tag. For all other request methods, the server <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> respond with a 412 (Precondition Failed) status code.
     963      </p>
     964      <p id="rfc.section.3.2.p.5">If none of the entity-tags match, then the server <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> perform the requested method as if the If-None-Match header field did not exist, but <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> also ignore any If-Modified-Since header field(s) in the request. That is, if no entity-tags match, then the server <em class="bcp14">MUST NOT</em> return a 304 (Not Modified) response.
     965      </p>
     966      <p id="rfc.section.3.2.p.6">If the request would, without the If-None-Match header field, result in anything other than a 2xx or 304 status code, then
     967         the If-None-Match header field <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> be ignored. (See <a href="#rules.for.when.to.use.entity.tags.and.last-modified.dates" title="Rules for When to Use Entity-tags and Last-Modified Dates">Section&nbsp;2.4</a> for a discussion of server behavior when both If-Modified-Since and If-None-Match appear in the same request.)
     968      </p>
     969      <p id="rfc.section.3.2.p.7">Examples:</p>
     970      <div id="rfc.figure.u.13"></div><pre class="text">  If-None-Match: "xyzzy"
     971  If-None-Match: W/"xyzzy"
     972  If-None-Match: "xyzzy", "r2d2xxxx", "c3piozzzz"
     973  If-None-Match: W/"xyzzy", W/"r2d2xxxx", W/"c3piozzzz"
     974  If-None-Match: *
     975</pre><p id="rfc.section.3.2.p.9">The result of a request having both an If-None-Match header field and either an If-Match or an If-Unmodified-Since header
     976         fields is undefined by this specification.
     977      </p>
     978      <div id="rfc.iref.i.3"></div>
     979      <div id="rfc.iref.h.5"></div>
     980      <h2 id="rfc.section.3.3"><a href="#rfc.section.3.3">3.3</a>&nbsp;<a id="header.if-modified-since" href="#header.if-modified-since">If-Modified-Since</a></h2>
     981      <p id="rfc.section.3.3.p.1">The "If-Modified-Since" header field <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> be used to make a request method conditional by modification date: if the selected representation has not been modified since
    954982         the time specified in this field, then do not perform the request method; instead, respond as detailed below.
    955983      </p>
    956       <div id="rfc.figure.u.10"></div><pre class="inline"><span id="rfc.iref.g.6"></span>  <a href="#header.if-modified-since" class="smpl">If-Modified-Since</a> = <a href="#notation" class="smpl">HTTP-date</a>
    957 </pre><p id="rfc.section.6.3.p.3">An example of the field is:</p>
    958       <div id="rfc.figure.u.11"></div><pre class="text">  If-Modified-Since: Sat, 29 Oct 1994 19:43:31 GMT
    959 </pre><p id="rfc.section.6.3.p.5">A GET method with an If-Modified-Since header field and no Range header field requests that the selected representation be
     984      <div id="rfc.figure.u.14"></div><pre class="inline"><span id="rfc.iref.g.8"></span>  <a href="#header.if-modified-since" class="smpl">If-Modified-Since</a> = <a href="#notation" class="smpl">HTTP-date</a>
     985</pre><p id="rfc.section.3.3.p.3">An example of the field is:</p>
     986      <div id="rfc.figure.u.15"></div><pre class="text">  If-Modified-Since: Sat, 29 Oct 1994 19:43:31 GMT
     987</pre><p id="rfc.section.3.3.p.5">A GET method with an If-Modified-Since header field and no Range header field requests that the selected representation be
    960988         transferred only if it has been modified since the date given by the If-Modified-Since header field. The algorithm for determining
    961989         this includes the following cases:
    … …  
    9721000         </li>
    9731001      </ol>
    974       <p id="rfc.section.6.3.p.6">The purpose of this feature is to allow efficient updates of cached information with a minimum amount of transaction overhead. </p>
     1002      <p id="rfc.section.3.3.p.6">The purpose of this feature is to allow efficient updates of cached information with a minimum amount of transaction overhead. </p>
    9751003      <ul class="empty">
    9761004         <li> <b>Note:</b> The Range header field modifies the meaning of If-Modified-Since; see <a href="p5-range.html#header.range" title="Range">Section 5.4</a> of <a href="#Part5" id="rfc.xref.Part5.4"><cite title="HTTP/1.1, part 5: Range Requests and Partial Responses">[Part5]</cite></a> for full details.
    … …  
    9921020         </li>
    9931021      </ul>
    994       <p id="rfc.section.6.3.p.7">The result of a request having both an If-Modified-Since header field and either an If-Match or an If-Unmodified-Since header
     1022      <p id="rfc.section.3.3.p.7">The result of a request having both an If-Modified-Since header field and either an If-Match or an If-Unmodified-Since header
    9951023         fields is undefined by this specification.
    9961024      </p>
    997       <div id="rfc.iref.i.3"></div>
    998       <div id="rfc.iref.h.4"></div>
    999       <h2 id="rfc.section.6.4"><a href="#rfc.section.6.4">6.4</a>&nbsp;<a id="header.if-none-match" href="#header.if-none-match">If-None-Match</a></h2>
    1000       <p id="rfc.section.6.4.p.1">The "If-None-Match" header field <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> be used to make a request method conditional on not matching any of the current entity-tag values for representations of the
    1001          target resource. If-None-Match is primarily used in conditional GET requests to enable efficient updates of cached information
    1002          with a minimum amount of transaction overhead. A client that has one or more representations previously obtained from the
    1003          target resource can send If-None-Match with a list of the associated entity-tags in the hope of receiving a 304 response if
    1004          at least one of those representations matches the selected representation.
    1005       </p>
    1006       <p id="rfc.section.6.4.p.2">If-None-Match MAY also be used with a value of "*" to prevent an unsafe request method (e.g., PUT) from inadvertently modifying
    1007          an existing representation of the target resource when the client believes that the resource does not have a current representation.
    1008          This is a variation on the "lost update" problem that might arise if more than one client attempts to create an initial representation
    1009          for the target resource.
    1010       </p>
    1011       <div id="rfc.figure.u.12"></div><pre class="inline"><span id="rfc.iref.g.7"></span>  <a href="#header.if-none-match" class="smpl">If-None-Match</a> = "*" / 1#<a href="#entity.tags" class="smpl">entity-tag</a>
    1012 </pre><p id="rfc.section.6.4.p.4">If any of the entity-tags listed in the If-None-Match field-value match the entity-tag of the selected representation, or
    1013          if "*" is given and any current representation exists for that resource, then the server <em class="bcp14">MUST NOT</em> perform the requested method. Instead, if the request method was GET or HEAD, the server <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> respond with a 304 (Not Modified) status code, including the cache-related header fields (particularly ETag) of the selected
    1014          representation that has a matching entity-tag. For all other request methods, the server <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> respond with a 412 (Precondition Failed) status code.
    1015       </p>
    1016       <p id="rfc.section.6.4.p.5">If none of the entity-tags match, then the server <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> perform the requested method as if the If-None-Match header field did not exist, but <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> also ignore any If-Modified-Since header field(s) in the request. That is, if no entity-tags match, then the server <em class="bcp14">MUST NOT</em> return a 304 (Not Modified) response.
    1017       </p>
    1018       <p id="rfc.section.6.4.p.6">If the request would, without the If-None-Match header field, result in anything other than a 2xx or 304 status code, then
    1019          the If-None-Match header field <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> be ignored. (See <a href="#rules.for.when.to.use.entity.tags.and.last-modified.dates" title="Rules for When to Use Entity-tags and Last-Modified Dates">Section&nbsp;5</a> for a discussion of server behavior when both If-Modified-Since and If-None-Match appear in the same request.)
    1020       </p>
    1021       <p id="rfc.section.6.4.p.7">Examples:</p>
    1022       <div id="rfc.figure.u.13"></div><pre class="text">  If-None-Match: "xyzzy"
    1023   If-None-Match: W/"xyzzy"
    1024   If-None-Match: "xyzzy", "r2d2xxxx", "c3piozzzz"
    1025   If-None-Match: W/"xyzzy", W/"r2d2xxxx", W/"c3piozzzz"
    1026   If-None-Match: *
    1027 </pre><p id="rfc.section.6.4.p.9">The result of a request having both an If-None-Match header field and either an If-Match or an If-Unmodified-Since header
    1028          fields is undefined by this specification.
    1029       </p>
    10301025      <div id="rfc.iref.i.4"></div>
    1031       <div id="rfc.iref.h.5"></div>
    1032       <h2 id="rfc.section.6.5"><a href="#rfc.section.6.5">6.5</a>&nbsp;<a id="header.if-unmodified-since" href="#header.if-unmodified-since">If-Unmodified-Since</a></h2>
    1033       <p id="rfc.section.6.5.p.1">The "If-Unmodified-Since" header field <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> be used to make a request method conditional by modification date: if the selected representation has been modified since
     1026      <div id="rfc.iref.h.6"></div>
     1027      <h2 id="rfc.section.3.4"><a href="#rfc.section.3.4">3.4</a>&nbsp;<a id="header.if-unmodified-since" href="#header.if-unmodified-since">If-Unmodified-Since</a></h2>
     1028      <p id="rfc.section.3.4.p.1">The "If-Unmodified-Since" header field <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> be used to make a request method conditional by modification date: if the selected representation has been modified since
    10341029         the time specified in this field, then the server <em class="bcp14">MUST NOT</em> perform the requested operation and <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> instead respond with the 412 (Precondition Failed) status code. If the selected representation has not been modified since
    10351030         the time specified in this field, the server <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> perform the request method as if the If-Unmodified-Since header field were not present.
    10361031      </p>
    1037       <div id="rfc.figure.u.14"></div><pre class="inline"><span id="rfc.iref.g.8"></span>  <a href="#header.if-unmodified-since" class="smpl">If-Unmodified-Since</a> = <a href="#notation" class="smpl">HTTP-date</a>
    1038 </pre><p id="rfc.section.6.5.p.3">An example of the field is:</p>
    1039       <div id="rfc.figure.u.15"></div><pre class="text">  If-Unmodified-Since: Sat, 29 Oct 1994 19:43:31 GMT
    1040 </pre><p id="rfc.section.6.5.p.5">If the request normally (i.e., without the If-Unmodified-Since header field) would result in anything other than a 2xx or
     1032      <div id="rfc.figure.u.16"></div><pre class="inline"><span id="rfc.iref.g.9"></span>  <a href="#header.if-unmodified-since" class="smpl">If-Unmodified-Since</a> = <a href="#notation" class="smpl">HTTP-date</a>
     1033</pre><p id="rfc.section.3.4.p.3">An example of the field is:</p>
     1034      <div id="rfc.figure.u.17"></div><pre class="text">  If-Unmodified-Since: Sat, 29 Oct 1994 19:43:31 GMT
     1035</pre><p id="rfc.section.3.4.p.5">If the request normally (i.e., without the If-Unmodified-Since header field) would result in anything other than a 2xx or
    10411036         412 status code, the If-Unmodified-Since header field <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> be ignored.
    10421037      </p>
    1043       <p id="rfc.section.6.5.p.6">If the specified date is invalid, the header field <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> be ignored.
    1044       </p>
    1045       <p id="rfc.section.6.5.p.7">The result of a request having both an If-Unmodified-Since header field and either an If-None-Match or an If-Modified-Since
     1038      <p id="rfc.section.3.4.p.6">If the specified date is invalid, the header field <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> be ignored.
     1039      </p>
     1040      <p id="rfc.section.3.4.p.7">The result of a request having both an If-Unmodified-Since header field and either an If-None-Match or an If-Modified-Since
    10461041         header fields is undefined by this specification.
    10471042      </p>
    1048       <div id="rfc.iref.l.1"></div>
    1049       <div id="rfc.iref.h.6"></div>
    1050       <h2 id="rfc.section.6.6"><a href="#rfc.section.6.6">6.6</a>&nbsp;<a id="header.last-modified" href="#header.last-modified">Last-Modified</a></h2>
    1051       <p id="rfc.section.6.6.p.1">The "Last-Modified" header field indicates the date and time at which the origin server believes the representation was last
    1052          modified.
    1053       </p>
    1054       <div id="rfc.figure.u.16"></div><pre class="inline"><span id="rfc.iref.g.9"></span>  <a href="#header.last-modified" class="smpl">Last-Modified</a> = <a href="#notation" class="smpl">HTTP-date</a>
    1055 </pre><p id="rfc.section.6.6.p.3">An example of its use is</p>
    1056       <div id="rfc.figure.u.17"></div><pre class="text">  Last-Modified: Tue, 15 Nov 1994 12:45:26 GMT
    1057 </pre><p id="rfc.section.6.6.p.5">A representation is typically the sum of many parts behind the resource interface. The last-modified time would usually be
    1058          the most recent time that any of those parts were changed. How that value is determined for any given resource is an implementation
    1059          detail beyond the scope of this specification. What matters to HTTP is how recipients of the Last-Modified header field can
    1060          use its value to make conditional requests and test the validity of locally cached responses.
    1061       </p>
    1062       <p id="rfc.section.6.6.p.6">An origin server <em class="bcp14">MUST NOT</em> send a Last-Modified date which is later than the server's time of message origination. In such cases, where the resource's
    1063          last modification would indicate some time in the future, the server <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> replace that date with the message origination date.
    1064       </p>
    1065       <p id="rfc.section.6.6.p.7">An origin server <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> obtain the Last-Modified value of the representation as close as possible to the time that it generates the Date value of
    1066          its response. This allows a recipient to make an accurate assessment of the representation's modification time, especially
    1067          if the representation changes near the time that the response is generated.
    1068       </p>
    1069       <p id="rfc.section.6.6.p.8">HTTP/1.1 servers <em class="bcp14">SHOULD</em> send Last-Modified whenever feasible.
    1070       </p>
    1071       <p id="rfc.section.6.6.p.9">The Last-Modified header field value is often used as a cache validator. In simple terms, a cache entry is considered to be
    1072          valid if the representation has not been modified since the Last-Modified value.
    1073       </p>
    1074       <h1 id="rfc.section.7"><a href="#rfc.section.7">7.</a>&nbsp;<a id="IANA.considerations" href="#IANA.considerations">IANA Considerations</a></h1>
    1075       <h2 id="rfc.section.7.1"><a href="#rfc.section.7.1">7.1</a>&nbsp;<a id="status.code.registration" href="#status.code.registration">Status Code Registration</a></h2>
    1076       <p id="rfc.section.7.1.p.1">The HTTP Status Code Registry located at &lt;<a href="http://www.iana.org/assignments/http-status-codes">http://www.iana.org/assignments/http-status-codes</a>&gt; shall be updated with the registrations below:
     1043      <h1 id="rfc.section.4"><a href="#rfc.section.4">4.</a>&nbsp;<a id="status.code.definitions" href="#status.code.definitions">Status Code Definitions</a></h1>
     1044      <div id="rfc.iref.24"></div>
     1045      <div id="rfc.iref.s.2"></div>
     1046      <h2 id="rfc.section.4.1"><a href="#rfc.section.4.1">4.1</a>&nbsp;<a id="status.304" href="#status.304">304 Not Modified</a></h2>
     1047      <p id="rfc.section.4.1.p.1">The 304 status code indicates that a conditional GET request has been received and would have resulted in a 200 (OK) response
     1048         if it were not for the fact that the condition has evaluated to false. In other words, there is no need for the server to
     1049         transfer a representation of the target resource because the client's request indicates that it already has a valid representation,
     1050         as indicated by the 304 response header fields, and is therefore redirecting the client to make use of that stored representation
     1051         as if it were the payload of a 200 response. The 304 response <em class="bcp14">MUST NOT</em> contain a message-body, and thus is always terminated by the first empty line after the header fields.
     1052      </p>
     1053      <p id="rfc.section.4.1.p.2">A 304 response <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> include a Date header field (<a href="p1-messaging.html#header.date" title="Date">Section 9.3</a> of <a href="#Part1" id="rfc.xref.Part1.6"><cite title="HTTP/1.1, part 1: URIs, Connections, and Message Parsing">[Part1]</cite></a>) unless its omission is required by <a href="p1-messaging.html#clockless.origin.server.operation" title="Clockless Origin Server Operation">Section 9.3.1</a> of <a href="#Part1" id="rfc.xref.Part1.7"><cite title="HTTP/1.1, part 1: URIs, Connections, and Message Parsing">[Part1]</cite></a>. If a 200 response to the same request would have included any of the header fields Cache-Control, Content-Location, ETag,
     1054         Expires, Last-Modified, or Vary, then those same header fields <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> be sent in a 304 response.
     1055      </p>
     1056      <p id="rfc.section.4.1.p.3">Since the goal of a 304 response is to minimize information transfer when the recipient already has one or more cached representations,
     1057         the response <em class="bcp14">SHOULD NOT</em> include representation metadata other than the above listed fields unless said metadata exists for the purpose of guiding
     1058         cache updates (e.g., future HTTP extensions).
     1059      </p>
     1060      <p id="rfc.section.4.1.p.4">If the recipient of a 304 response does not have a cached representation corresponding to the entity-tag indicated by the
     1061         304 response, then the recipient <em class="bcp14">MUST NOT</em> use the 304 to update its own cache. If this conditional request originated with an outbound client, such as a user agent
     1062         with its own cache sending a conditional GET to a shared proxy, then the 304 response <em class="bcp14">MAY</em> be forwarded to the outbound client. Otherwise, the recipient <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> disregard the 304 response and repeat the request without any preconditions.
     1063      </p>
     1064      <p id="rfc.section.4.1.p.5">If a cache uses a received 304 response to update a cache entry, the cache <em class="bcp14">MUST</em> update the entry to reflect any new field values given in the response.
     1065      </p>
     1066      <div id="rfc.iref.25"></div>
     1067      <div id="rfc.iref.s.3"></div>
     1068      <h2 id="rfc.section.4.2"><a href="#rfc.section.4.2">4.2</a>&nbsp;<a id="status.412" href="#status.412">412 Precondition Failed</a></h2>
     1069      <p id="rfc.section.4.2.p.1">The 412 status code indicates that one or more preconditions given in the request header fields evaluated to false when tested
     1070         on the server. This response code allows the client to place preconditions on the current resource state (its current representations
     1071         and metadata) and thus prevent the request method from being applied if the target resource is in an unexpected state.
     1072      </p>
     1073      <h1 id="rfc.section.5"><a href="#rfc.section.5">5.</a>&nbsp;<a id="IANA.considerations" href="#IANA.considerations">IANA Considerations</a></h1>
     1074      <h2 id="rfc.section.5.1"><a href="#rfc.section.5.1">5.1</a>&nbsp;<a id="status.code.registration" href="#status.code.registration">Status Code Registration</a></h2>
     1075      <p id="rfc.section.5.1.p.1">The HTTP Status Code Registry located at &lt;<a href="http://www.iana.org/assignments/http-status-codes">http://www.iana.org/assignments/http-status-codes</a>&gt; shall be updated with the registrations below:
    10771076      </p>
    10781077      <div id="rfc.table.1">
    … …  
    10901089                  <td class="left">304</td>
    10911090                  <td class="left">Not Modified</td>
    1092                   <td class="left"> <a href="#status.304" id="rfc.xref.status.304.1" title="304 Not Modified">Section&nbsp;3.1</a>
     1091                  <td class="left"> <a href="#status.304" id="rfc.xref.status.304.1" title="304 Not Modified">Section&nbsp;4.1</a>
    10931092                  </td>
    10941093               </tr>
    … …  
    10961095                  <td class="left">412</td>
    10971096                  <td class="left">Precondition Failed</td>
    1098                   <td class="left"> <a href="#status.412" id="rfc.xref.status.412.1" title="412 Precondition Failed">Section&nbsp;3.2</a>
     1097                  <td class="left"> <a href="#status.412" id="rfc.xref.status.412.1" title="412 Precondition Failed">Section&nbsp;4.2</a>
    10991098                  </td>
    11001099               </tr>
    … …  
    11021101         </table>
    11031102      </div>
    1104       <h2 id="rfc.section.7.2"><a href="#rfc.section.7.2">7.2</a>&nbsp;<a id="header.field.registration" href="#header.field.registration">Header Field Registration</a></h2>
    1105       <p id="rfc.section.7.2.p.1">The Message Header Field Registry located at &lt;<a href="http://www.iana.org/assignments/message-headers/message-header-index.html">http://www.iana.org/assignments/message-headers/message-header-index.html</a>&gt; shall be updated with the permanent registrations below (see <a href="#RFC3864" id="rfc.xref.RFC3864.1"><cite title="Registration Procedures for Message Header Fields">[RFC3864]</cite></a>):
     1103      <h2 id="rfc.section.5.2"><a href="#rfc.section.5.2">5.2</a>&nbsp;<a id="header.field.registration" href="#header.field.registration">Header Field Registration</a></h2>
     1104      <p id="rfc.section.5.2.p.1">The Message Header Field Registry located at &lt;<a href="http://www.iana.org/assignments/message-headers/message-header-index.html">http://www.iana.org/assignments/message-headers/message-header-index.html</a>&gt; shall be updated with the permanent registrations below (see <a href="#RFC3864" id="rfc.xref.RFC3864.1"><cite title="Registration Procedures for Message Header Fields">[RFC3864]</cite></a>):
    11061105      </p>
    11071106      <div id="rfc.table.2">
    … …  
    11211120                  <td class="left">http</td>
    11221121                  <td class="left">standard</td>
    1123                   <td class="left"> <a href="#header.etag" id="rfc.xref.header.etag.2" title="ETag">Section&nbsp;6.1</a>
     1122                  <td class="left"> <a href="#header.etag" id="rfc.xref.header.etag.2" title="ETag">Section&nbsp;2.2.1</a>
    11241123                  </td>
    11251124               </tr>
    … …  
    11281127                  <td class="left">http</td>
    11291128                  <td class="left">standard</td>
    1130                   <td class="left"> <a href="#header.if-match" id="rfc.xref.header.if-match.2" title="If-Match">Section&nbsp;6.2</a>
     1129                  <td class="left"> <a href="#header.if-match" id="rfc.xref.header.if-match.2" title="If-Match">Section&nbsp;3.1</a>
    11311130                  </td>
    11321131               </tr>
    … …  
    11351134                  <td class="left">http</td>
    11361135                  <td class="left">standard</td>
    1137                   <td class="left"> <a href="#header.if-modified-since" id="rfc.xref.header.if-modified-since.1" title="If-Modified-Since">Section&nbsp;6.3</a>
     1136                  <td class="left"> <a href="#header.if-modified-since" id="rfc.xref.header.if-modified-since.1" title="If-Modified-Since">Section&nbsp;3.3</a>
    11381137                  </td>
    11391138               </tr>
    … …  
    11421141                  <td class="left">http</td>
    11431142                  <td class="left">standard</td>
    1144                   <td class="left"> <a href="#header.if-none-match" id="rfc.xref.header.if-none-match.2" title="If-None-Match">Section&nbsp;6.4</a>
     1143                  <td class="left"> <a href="#header.if-none-match" id="rfc.xref.header.if-none-match.2" title="If-None-Match">Section&nbsp;3.2</a>
    11451144                  </td>
    11461145               </tr>
    … …  
    11491148                  <td class="left">http</td>
    11501149                  <td class="left">standard</td>
    1151                   <td class="left"> <a href="#header.if-unmodified-since" id="rfc.xref.header.if-unmodified-since.1" title="If-Unmodified-Since">Section&nbsp;6.5</a>
     1150                  <td class="left"> <a href="#header.if-unmodified-since" id="rfc.xref.header.if-unmodified-since.1" title="If-Unmodified-Since">Section&nbsp;3.4</a>
    11521151                  </td>
    11531152               </tr>
    … …  
    11561155                  <td class="left">http</td>
    11571156                  <td class="left">standard</td>
    1158                   <td class="left"> <a href="#header.last-modified" id="rfc.xref.header.last-modified.1" title="Last-Modified">Section&nbsp;6.6</a>
     1157                  <td class="left"> <a href="#header.last-modified" id="rfc.xref.header.last-modified.1" title="Last-Modified">Section&nbsp;2.1</a>
    11591158                  </td>
    11601159               </tr>
    … …  
    11621161         </table>
    11631162      </div>
    1164       <p id="rfc.section.7.2.p.2">The change controller is: "IETF (iesg@ietf.org) - Internet Engineering Task Force".</p>
    1165       <h1 id="rfc.section.8"><a href="#rfc.section.8">8.</a>&nbsp;<a id="security.considerations" href="#security.considerations">Security Considerations</a></h1>
    1166       <p id="rfc.section.8.p.1">No additional security considerations have been identified beyond those applicable to HTTP in general <a href="#Part1" id="rfc.xref.Part1.8"><cite title="HTTP/1.1, part 1: URIs, Connections, and Message Parsing">[Part1]</cite></a>.
    1167       </p>
    1168       <h1 id="rfc.section.9"><a href="#rfc.section.9">9.</a>&nbsp;<a id="ack" href="#ack">Acknowledgments</a></h1>
    1169       <h1 id="rfc.references"><a id="rfc.section.10" href="#rfc.section.10">10.</a> References
     1163      <p id="rfc.section.5.2.p.2">The change controller is: "IETF (iesg@ietf.org) - Internet Engineering Task Force".</p>
     1164      <h1 id="rfc.section.6"><a href="#rfc.section.6">6.</a>&nbsp;<a id="security.considerations" href="#security.considerations">Security Considerations</a></h1>
     1165      <p id="rfc.section.6.p.1">No additional security considerations have been identified beyond those applicable to HTTP in general <a href="#Part1" id="rfc.xref.Part1.8"><cite title="HTTP/1.1, part 1: URIs, Connections, and Message Parsing">[Part1]</cite></a>.
     1166      </p>
     1167      <h1 id="rfc.section.7"><a href="#rfc.section.7">7.</a>&nbsp;<a id="ack" href="#ack">Acknowledgments</a></h1>
     1168      <h1 id="rfc.references"><a id="rfc.section.8" href="#rfc.section.8">8.</a> References
    11701169      </h1>
    1171       <h2 id="rfc.references.1"><a href="#rfc.section.10.1" id="rfc.section.10.1">10.1</a> Normative References
     1170      <h2 id="rfc.references.1"><a href="#rfc.section.8.1" id="rfc.section.8.1">8.1</a> Normative References
    11721171      </h2>
    11731172      <table>           
    … …  
    12031202         </tr>
    12041203      </table>
    1205       <h2 id="rfc.references.2"><a href="#rfc.section.10.2" id="rfc.section.10.2">10.2</a> Informative References
     1204      <h2 id="rfc.references.2"><a href="#rfc.section.8.2" id="rfc.section.8.2">8.2</a> Informative References
    12061205      </h2>
    12071206      <table>     
    … …  
    12411240      </div>
    12421241      <h1 id="rfc.section.A" class="np"><a href="#rfc.section.A">A.</a>&nbsp;<a id="changes.from.rfc.2616" href="#changes.from.rfc.2616">Changes from RFC 2616</a></h1>
    1243       <p id="rfc.section.A.p.1">Allow weak entity-tags in all requests except range requests (Sections <a href="#weak.and.strong.validators" title="Weak and Strong Validators">4</a> and <a href="#header.if-none-match" id="rfc.xref.header.if-none-match.3" title="If-None-Match">6.4</a>).
    1244       </p>
    1245       <p id="rfc.section.A.p.2">Change ABNF productions for header fields to only define the field value. (<a href="#header.fields" title="Header Field Definitions">Section&nbsp;6</a>)
     1242      <p id="rfc.section.A.p.1">Allow weak entity-tags in all requests except range requests (Sections <a href="#weak.and.strong.validators" title="Weak and Strong Validators">2.3</a> and <a href="#header.if-none-match" id="rfc.xref.header.if-none-match.3" title="If-None-Match">3.2</a>).
     1243      </p>
     1244      <p id="rfc.section.A.p.2">Change ABNF productions for header fields to only define the field value. (<a href="#header.fields" title="Precondition Header Fields">Section&nbsp;3</a>)
    12461245      </p>
    12471246      <h1 id="rfc.section.B"><a href="#rfc.section.B">B.</a>&nbsp;<a id="collected.abnf" href="#collected.abnf">Collected ABNF</a></h1>
    … …  
    13801379      </ul>
    13811380      <h1 id="rfc.index"><a href="#rfc.index">Index</a></h1>
    1382       <p class="noprint"><a href="#rfc.index.3">3</a> <a href="#rfc.index.4">4</a> <a href="#rfc.index.E">E</a> <a href="#rfc.index.G">G</a> <a href="#rfc.index.H">H</a> <a href="#rfc.index.I">I</a> <a href="#rfc.index.L">L</a> <a href="#rfc.index.P">P</a> <a href="#rfc.index.R">R</a> <a href="#rfc.index.S">S</a>
     1381      <p class="noprint"><a href="#rfc.index.3">3</a> <a href="#rfc.index.4">4</a> <a href="#rfc.index.E">E</a> <a href="#rfc.index.G">G</a> <a href="#rfc.index.H">H</a> <a href="#rfc.index.I">I</a> <a href="#rfc.index.L">L</a> <a href="#rfc.index.M">M</a> <a href="#rfc.index.P">P</a> <a href="#rfc.index.R">R</a> <a href="#rfc.index.S">S</a> <a href="#rfc.index.V">V</a>
    13831382      </p>
    13841383      <div class="print2col">
    13851384         <ul class="ind">
    13861385            <li><a id="rfc.index.3" href="#rfc.index.3"><b>3</b></a><ul>
    1387                   <li>304 Not Modified (status code)&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.4"><b>3.1</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.status.304.1">7.1</a></li>
     1386                  <li>304 Not Modified (status code)&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.24"><b>4.1</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.status.304.1">5.1</a></li>
    13881387               </ul>
    13891388            </li>
    13901389            <li><a id="rfc.index.4" href="#rfc.index.4"><b>4</b></a><ul>
    1391                   <li>412 Precondition Failed (status code)&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.5"><b>3.2</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.status.412.1">7.1</a></li>
     1390                  <li>412 Precondition Failed (status code)&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.25"><b>4.2</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.status.412.1">5.1</a></li>
    13921391               </ul>
    13931392            </li>
    13941393            <li><a id="rfc.index.E" href="#rfc.index.E"><b>E</b></a><ul>
    1395                   <li>ETag header field&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.header.etag.1">2.1</a>, <a href="#rfc.iref.e.1"><b>6.1</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.etag.2">7.2</a></li>
     1394                  <li>ETag header field&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.header.etag.1">2.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.iref.e.1"><b>2.2.1</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.etag.2">5.2</a></li>
    13961395               </ul>
    13971396            </li>
    … …  
    13991398                  <li><tt>Grammar</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;
    14001399                     <ul>
    1401                         <li><tt>entity-tag</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.g.1"><b>2.1</b></a></li>
    1402                         <li><tt>ETag</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.g.4"><b>6.1</b></a></li>
    1403                         <li><tt>If-Match</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.g.5"><b>6.2</b></a></li>
    1404                         <li><tt>If-Modified-Since</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.g.6"><b>6.3</b></a></li>
    1405                         <li><tt>If-None-Match</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.g.7"><b>6.4</b></a></li>
    1406                         <li><tt>If-Unmodified-Since</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.g.8"><b>6.5</b></a></li>
    1407                         <li><tt>Last-Modified</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.g.9"><b>6.6</b></a></li>
    1408                         <li><tt>opaque-tag</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.g.3"><b>2.1</b></a></li>
    1409                         <li><tt>weak</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.g.2"><b>2.1</b></a></li>
     1400                        <li><tt>entity-tag</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.g.2"><b>2.2</b></a></li>
     1401                        <li><tt>ETag</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.g.5"><b>2.2.1</b></a></li>
     1402                        <li><tt>If-Match</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.g.6"><b>3.1</b></a></li>
     1403                        <li><tt>If-Modified-Since</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.g.8"><b>3.3</b></a></li>
     1404                        <li><tt>If-None-Match</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.g.7"><b>3.2</b></a></li>
     1405                        <li><tt>If-Unmodified-Since</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.g.9"><b>3.4</b></a></li>
     1406                        <li><tt>Last-Modified</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.g.1"><b>2.1</b></a></li>
     1407                        <li><tt>opaque-tag</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.g.4"><b>2.2</b></a></li>
     1408                        <li><tt>weak</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.g.3"><b>2.2</b></a></li>
    14101409                     </ul>
    14111410                  </li>
    … …  
    14151414                  <li>Header Fields&nbsp;&nbsp;
    14161415                     <ul>
    1417                         <li>ETag&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.header.etag.1">2.1</a>, <a href="#rfc.iref.h.1"><b>6.1</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.etag.2">7.2</a></li>
    1418                         <li>If-Match&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-match.1">2.1</a>, <a href="#rfc.iref.h.2"><b>6.2</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-match.2">7.2</a></li>
    1419                         <li>If-Modified-Since&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.h.3"><b>6.3</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-modified-since.1">7.2</a></li>
    1420                         <li>If-None-Match&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-none-match.1">2.1</a>, <a href="#rfc.iref.h.4"><b>6.4</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-none-match.2">7.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-none-match.3">A</a></li>
    1421                         <li>If-Unmodified-Since&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.h.5"><b>6.5</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-unmodified-since.1">7.2</a></li>
    1422                         <li>Last-Modified&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.h.6"><b>6.6</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.last-modified.1">7.2</a></li>
     1416                        <li>ETag&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.header.etag.1">2.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.iref.h.2"><b>2.2.1</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.etag.2">5.2</a></li>
     1417                        <li>If-Match&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-match.1">2.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.iref.h.3"><b>3.1</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-match.2">5.2</a></li>
     1418                        <li>If-Modified-Since&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.h.5"><b>3.3</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-modified-since.1">5.2</a></li>
     1419                        <li>If-None-Match&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-none-match.1">2.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.iref.h.4"><b>3.2</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-none-match.2">5.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-none-match.3">A</a></li>
     1420                        <li>If-Unmodified-Since&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.h.6"><b>3.4</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-unmodified-since.1">5.2</a></li>
     1421                        <li>Last-Modified&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.h.1"><b>2.1</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.last-modified.1">5.2</a></li>
    14231422                     </ul>
    14241423                  </li>
    … …  
    14261425            </li>
    14271426            <li><a id="rfc.index.I" href="#rfc.index.I"><b>I</b></a><ul>
    1428                   <li>If-Match header field&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-match.1">2.1</a>, <a href="#rfc.iref.i.1"><b>6.2</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-match.2">7.2</a></li>
    1429                   <li>If-Modified-Since header field&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.i.2"><b>6.3</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-modified-since.1">7.2</a></li>
    1430                   <li>If-None-Match header field&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-none-match.1">2.1</a>, <a href="#rfc.iref.i.3"><b>6.4</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-none-match.2">7.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-none-match.3">A</a></li>
    1431                   <li>If-Unmodified-Since header field&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.i.4"><b>6.5</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-unmodified-since.1">7.2</a></li>
     1427                  <li>If-Match header field&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-match.1">2.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.iref.i.1"><b>3.1</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-match.2">5.2</a></li>
     1428                  <li>If-Modified-Since header field&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.i.3"><b>3.3</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-modified-since.1">5.2</a></li>
     1429                  <li>If-None-Match header field&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-none-match.1">2.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.iref.i.2"><b>3.2</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-none-match.2">5.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-none-match.3">A</a></li>
     1430                  <li>If-Unmodified-Since header field&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.i.4"><b>3.4</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.if-unmodified-since.1">5.2</a></li>
    14321431               </ul>
    14331432            </li>
    14341433            <li><a id="rfc.index.L" href="#rfc.index.L"><b>L</b></a><ul>
    1435                   <li>Last-Modified header field&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.l.1"><b>6.6</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.last-modified.1">7.2</a></li>
     1434                  <li>Last-Modified header field&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.l.1"><b>2.1</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.header.last-modified.1">5.2</a></li>
     1435               </ul>
     1436            </li>
     1437            <li><a id="rfc.index.M" href="#rfc.index.M"><b>M</b></a><ul>
     1438                  <li>metadata&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.m.1"><b>2</b></a></li>
    14361439               </ul>
    14371440            </li>
    14381441            <li><a id="rfc.index.P" href="#rfc.index.P"><b>P</b></a><ul>
    1439                   <li><em>Part1</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.1">1.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.2">1.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.3">1.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.4">1.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.5">2.1.1</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.6">3.1</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.7">3.1</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.8">8</a>, <a href="#Part1"><b>10.1</b></a><ul>
     1442                  <li><em>Part1</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.1">1.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.2">1.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.3">1.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.4">1.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.5">2.2.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.6">4.1</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.7">4.1</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.8">6</a>, <a href="#Part1"><b>8.1</b></a><ul>
    14401443                        <li><em>Section 1.2</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.1">1.2</a></li>
    14411444                        <li><em>Section 1.2.2</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.2">1.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.3">1.2</a></li>
    14421445                        <li><em>Section 6.1</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.4">1.2</a></li>
    1443                         <li><em>Section 6.2</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.5">2.1.1</a></li>
    1444                         <li><em>Section 9.3</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.6">3.1</a></li>
    1445                         <li><em>Section 9.3.1</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.7">3.1</a></li>
     1446                        <li><em>Section 6.2</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.5">2.2.2</a></li>
     1447                        <li><em>Section 9.3</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.6">4.1</a></li>
     1448                        <li><em>Section 9.3.1</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part1.7">4.1</a></li>
    14461449                     </ul>
    14471450                  </li>
    1448                   <li><em>Part3</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part3.1">2.1.1</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part3.2">2.1.1</a>, <a href="#Part3"><b>10.1</b></a><ul>
    1449                         <li><em>Section 5</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part3.1">2.1.1</a></li>
    1450                         <li><em>Section 6.3</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part3.2">2.1.1</a></li>
     1451                  <li><em>Part3</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part3.1">2.2.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part3.2">2.2.2</a>, <a href="#Part3"><b>8.1</b></a><ul>
     1452                        <li><em>Section 5</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part3.1">2.2.2</a></li>
     1453                        <li><em>Section 6.3</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part3.2">2.2.2</a></li>
    14511454                     </ul>
    14521455                  </li>
    1453                   <li><em>Part5</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part5.1">2.1</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part5.2">4</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part5.3">4</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part5.4">6.3</a>, <a href="#Part5"><b>10.1</b></a><ul>
    1454                         <li><em>Section 5.3</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part5.1">2.1</a></li>
    1455                         <li><em>Section 5.4</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part5.4">6.3</a></li>
     1456                  <li><em>Part5</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part5.1">2.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part5.2">2.3</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part5.3">2.3</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.Part5.4">3.3</a>, <a href="#Part5"><b>8.1</b></a><ul>
     1457                        <li><em>Section 5.3</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part5.1">2.2</a></li>
     1458                        <li><em>Section 5.4</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part5.4">3.3</a></li>
    14561459                     </ul>
    14571460                  </li>
    1458                   <li><em>Part6</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#Part6"><b>10.1</b></a></li>
     1461                  <li><em>Part6</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.Part6.1">1</a>, <a href="#Part6"><b>8.1</b></a></li>
    14591462               </ul>
    14601463            </li>
    14611464            <li><a id="rfc.index.R" href="#rfc.index.R"><b>R</b></a><ul>
    1462                   <li><em>RFC2119</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.RFC2119.1">1.1</a>, <a href="#RFC2119"><b>10.1</b></a></li>
    1463                   <li><em>RFC2616</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#RFC2616"><b>10.2</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.RFC2616.1">C.1</a></li>
    1464                   <li><em>RFC3864</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.RFC3864.1">7.2</a>, <a href="#RFC3864"><b>10.2</b></a></li>
    1465                   <li><em>RFC4918</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.RFC4918.1">2</a>, <a href="#RFC4918"><b>10.2</b></a></li>
    1466                   <li><em>RFC5234</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.RFC5234.1">1.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.RFC5234.2">1.2</a>, <a href="#RFC5234"><b>10.1</b></a><ul>
     1465                  <li><em>RFC2119</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.RFC2119.1">1.1</a>, <a href="#RFC2119"><b>8.1</b></a></li>
     1466                  <li><em>RFC2616</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#RFC2616"><b>8.2</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.RFC2616.1">C.1</a></li>
     1467                  <li><em>RFC3864</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.RFC3864.1">5.2</a>, <a href="#RFC3864"><b>8.2</b></a></li>
     1468                  <li><em>RFC4918</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.RFC4918.1">2</a>, <a href="#RFC4918"><b>8.2</b></a></li>
     1469                  <li><em>RFC5234</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.RFC5234.1">1.2</a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.RFC5234.2">1.2</a>, <a href="#RFC5234"><b>8.1</b></a><ul>
    14671470                        <li><em>Appendix B.1</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.xref.RFC5234.2">1.2</a></li>
    14681471                     </ul>
    … …  
    14741477                  <li>Status Codes&nbsp;&nbsp;
    14751478                     <ul>
    1476                         <li>304 Not Modified&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.s.2"><b>3.1</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.status.304.1">7.1</a></li>
    1477                         <li>412 Precondition Failed&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.s.3"><b>3.2</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.status.412.1">7.1</a></li>
     1479                        <li>304 Not Modified&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.s.2"><b>4.1</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.status.304.1">5.1</a></li>
     1480                        <li>412 Precondition Failed&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.s.3"><b>4.2</b></a>, <a href="#rfc.xref.status.412.1">5.1</a></li>
    14781481                     </ul>
    14791482                  </li>
     1483               </ul>
     1484            </li>
     1485            <li><a id="rfc.index.V" href="#rfc.index.V"><b>V</b></a><ul>
     1486                  <li>validator&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#rfc.iref.v.1"><b>2</b></a></li>
    14801487               </ul>
    14811488            </li>

  • draft-ietf-httpbis/latest/p4-conditional.xml

    r1251 r1253  
    221221   specify preconditions to be checked before performing the action
    222222   given by the request method.  Conditional GET requests are the most
    223    efficient mechanism for HTTP cache updates.  Conditionals can be
     223   efficient mechanism for HTTP cache updates &caching;.  Conditionals can be
    224224   applied to state-changing methods, such as PUT and DELETE, to prevent
    225225   the "lost update" problem: one client accidentally overwriting
    … …  
    304304</section>
    305305
    306 <section title="Resource State Metadata" anchor="resource.metadata">
     306<section title="Resource State Metadata (Validators)" anchor="resource.metadata">
     307   <iref primary="true" item="metadata"/>
     308   <iref primary="true" item="validator"/>
    307309<t>
    308310   This specification defines two forms of metadata that are commonly used
    … …  
    311313   has been defined by various extensions of HTTP, such as WebDAV
    312314   <xref target="RFC4918"/>, that are beyond the scope of this specification.
    313 </t>
     315   Such metadata is referred to as a "<x:dfn>validator</x:dfn>" when it is
     316   used within a precondition.
     317</t>
     318
     319<section title="Last-Modified" anchor="header.last-modified">
     320  <iref primary="true" item="Last-Modified header field" x:for-anchor=""/>
     321  <iref primary="true" item="Header Fields" subitem="Last-Modified" x:for-anchor=""/>
     322  <x:anchor-alias value="Last-Modified"/>
     323<t>
     324   The "Last-Modified" header field indicates the date and time at
     325   which the origin server believes the representation was last modified.
     326</t>
     327<figure><artwork type="abnf2616"><iref primary="true" item="Grammar" subitem="Last-Modified"/>
     328  <x:ref>Last-Modified</x:ref> = <x:ref>HTTP-date</x:ref>
     329</artwork></figure>
     330<t>
     331   An example of its use is
     332</t>
     333<figure><artwork type="example">
     334  Last-Modified: Tue, 15 Nov 1994 12:45:26 GMT
     335</artwork></figure>
     336<t>
     337   A representation is typically the sum of many parts behind the
     338   resource interface.  The last-modified time would usually be
     339   the most recent time that any of those parts were changed.
     340   How that value is determined for any given resource is an
     341   implementation detail beyond the scope of this specification.
     342   What matters to HTTP is how recipients of the Last-Modified
     343   header field can use its value to make conditional requests
     344   and test the validity of locally cached responses.
     345</t>
     346<t>
     347   An origin server &MUST-NOT; send a Last-Modified date which is later
     348   than the server's time of message origination. In such cases, where
     349   the resource's last modification would indicate some time in the
     350   future, the server &MUST; replace that date with the message
     351   origination date.
     352</t>
     353<t>
     354   An origin server &SHOULD; obtain the Last-Modified value of the representation
     355   as close as possible to the time that it generates the Date value of
     356   its response. This allows a recipient to make an accurate assessment
     357   of the representation's modification time, especially if the representation changes
     358   near the time that the response is generated.
     359</t>
     360<t>
     361   HTTP/1.1 servers &SHOULD; send Last-Modified whenever feasible.
     362</t>
     363<t>
     364   The Last-Modified header field value is often used as a cache
     365   validator. In simple terms, a cache entry is considered to be valid
     366   if the representation has not been modified since the Last-Modified value.
     367</t>
     368</section>
    314369
    315370<section title="Entity Tags" anchor="entity.tags">
    … …  
    353408</t>
    354409
     410<section title="ETag" anchor="header.etag">
     411  <iref primary="true" item="ETag header field" x:for-anchor=""/>
     412  <iref primary="true" item="Header Fields" subitem="ETag" x:for-anchor=""/>
     413  <x:anchor-alias value="ETag"/>
     414<t>
     415   The "ETag" header field provides the current value of the
     416   entity-tag (see <xref target="entity.tags"/>) for one representation of
     417   the target resource.  An entity-tag
     418   is intended for use as a resource-local identifier for differentiating
     419   between representations of the same resource that vary over time or via
     420   content negotiation (see <xref target="weak.and.strong.validators"/>).
     421</t>
     422<figure><artwork type="abnf2616"><iref primary="true" item="Grammar" subitem="ETag"/>
     423  <x:ref>ETag</x:ref> = <x:ref>entity-tag</x:ref>
     424</artwork></figure>
     425<figure><preamble>
     426  Examples:
     427</preamble>
     428<artwork type="example">
     429  ETag: "xyzzy"
     430  ETag: W/"xyzzy"
     431  ETag: ""
     432</artwork></figure>
     433<t>
     434   An entity-tag provides an "opaque" cache validator that allows for
     435   more reliable validation than modification dates in situations where
     436   it is inconvenient to store modification dates,
     437   where the one-second resolution of HTTP date values is not
     438   sufficient, or where the origin server wishes to avoid certain
     439   paradoxes that might arise from the use of modification dates.
     440</t>
     441<t>
     442   The principle behind entity-tags is that only the service author
     443   knows the semantics of a resource well enough to select an
     444   appropriate cache validation mechanism, and the specification of any
     445   validator comparison function more complex than byte-equality would
     446   open up a can of worms. Thus, comparisons of any other header fields
     447   (except Last-Modified, for compatibility with HTTP/1.0) are never
     448   used for purposes of validating a cache entry.
     449</t>
     450</section>
     451
    355452<section title="Example: Entity-tags varying on Content-Negotiated Resources" anchor="example.entity.tag.vs.conneg">
    356453<t>
    … …  
    405502  </t>
    406503</x:note>
    407 </section>
    408 </section>
    409 </section>
    410 
    411 <section title="Status Code Definitions" anchor="status.code.definitions">
    412 <section title="304 Not Modified" anchor="status.304">
    413   <iref primary="true" item="304 Not Modified (status code)" x:for-anchor=""/>
    414   <iref primary="true" item="Status Codes" subitem="304 Not Modified" x:for-anchor=""/>
    415 <t>
    416    The 304 status code indicates that a conditional GET request has been
    417    received and would have resulted in a 200 (OK) response if it were not
    418    for the fact that the condition has evaluated to false.  In other words,
    419    there is no need for the server to transfer a representation of the
    420    target resource because the client's request indicates that it already
    421    has a valid representation, as indicated by the 304 response header
    422    fields, and is therefore redirecting the client to make use of that
    423    stored representation as if it were the payload of a 200 response.
    424    The 304 response &MUST-NOT; contain a message-body, and thus is always
    425    terminated by the first empty line after the header fields.
    426 </t>
    427 <t>
    428    A 304 response &MUST; include a Date header field (&header-date;)
    429    unless its omission is required by &clockless;.  If a 200 response
    430    to the same request would have included any of the header fields
    431    Cache-Control, Content-Location, ETag, Expires, Last-Modified, or
    432    Vary, then those same header fields &MUST; be sent in a 304 response.
    433 </t>
    434 <t>
    435    Since the goal of a 304 response is to minimize information transfer
    436    when the recipient already has one or more cached representations,
    437    the response &SHOULD-NOT; include representation metadata other
    438    than the above listed fields unless said metadata exists for the
    439    purpose of guiding cache updates (e.g., future HTTP extensions).
    440 </t>
    441 <t>
    442    If the recipient of a 304 response does not have a cached representation
    443    corresponding to the entity-tag indicated by the 304 response, then the
    444    recipient &MUST-NOT; use the 304 to update its own cache.  If this
    445    conditional request originated with an outbound client, such as a
    446    user agent with its own cache sending a conditional GET to a shared
    447    proxy, then the 304 response &MAY; be forwarded to the outbound client.
    448    Otherwise, the recipient &MUST; disregard the 304 response and repeat
    449    the request without any preconditions.
    450 </t>
    451 <t>
    452    If a cache uses a received 304 response to update a cache entry, the
    453    cache &MUST; update the entry to reflect any new field values given in
    454    the response.
    455 </t>
    456 </section>
    457 
    458 <section title="412 Precondition Failed" anchor="status.412">
    459   <iref primary="true" item="412 Precondition Failed (status code)" x:for-anchor=""/>
    460   <iref primary="true" item="Status Codes" subitem="412 Precondition Failed" x:for-anchor=""/>
    461 <t>
    462    The 412 status code indicates that one or more preconditions given in
    463    the request header fields evaluated to false when tested on the server.
    464    This response code allows the client to place preconditions on the
    465    current resource state (its current representations and metadata)
    466    and thus prevent the request method from being applied if the target
    467    resource is in an unexpected state.
    468 </t>
    469504</section>
    470505</section>
    … …  
    725760</section>
    726761
    727 <section title="Header Field Definitions" anchor="header.fields">
     762</section>
     763
     764<section title="Precondition Header Fields" anchor="header.fields">
    728765<t>
    729766   This section defines the syntax and semantics of HTTP/1.1 header fields
    730    related to conditional requests.
    731 </t>
    732 
    733 <section title="ETag" anchor="header.etag">
    734   <iref primary="true" item="ETag header field" x:for-anchor=""/>
    735   <iref primary="true" item="Header Fields" subitem="ETag" x:for-anchor=""/>
    736   <x:anchor-alias value="ETag"/>
    737 <t>
    738    The "ETag" header field provides the current value of the
    739    entity-tag (see <xref target="entity.tags"/>) for one representation of
    740    the target resource.  An entity-tag
    741    is intended for use as a resource-local identifier for differentiating
    742    between representations of the same resource that vary over time or via
    743    content negotiation (see <xref target="weak.and.strong.validators"/>).
    744 </t>
    745 <figure><artwork type="abnf2616"><iref primary="true" item="Grammar" subitem="ETag"/>
    746   <x:ref>ETag</x:ref> = <x:ref>entity-tag</x:ref>
    747 </artwork></figure>
    748 <figure><preamble>
    749   Examples:
    750 </preamble>
    751 <artwork type="example">
    752   ETag: "xyzzy"
    753   ETag: W/"xyzzy"
    754   ETag: ""
    755 </artwork></figure>
    756 <t>
    757    An entity-tag provides an "opaque" cache validator that allows for
    758    more reliable validation than modification dates in situations where
    759    it is inconvenient to store modification dates,
    760    where the one-second resolution of HTTP date values is not
    761    sufficient, or where the origin server wishes to avoid certain
    762    paradoxes that might arise from the use of modification dates.
    763 </t>
    764 <t>
    765    The principle behind entity-tags is that only the service author
    766    knows the semantics of a resource well enough to select an
    767    appropriate cache validation mechanism, and the specification of any
    768    validator comparison function more complex than byte-equality would
    769    open up a can of worms. Thus, comparisons of any other header fields
    770    (except Last-Modified, for compatibility with HTTP/1.0) are never
    771    used for purposes of validating a cache entry.
    772 </t>
    773 </section>
     767   for applying preconditions on requests.
     768</t>
    774769
    775770<section title="If-Match" anchor="header.if-match">
    … …  
    820815   The result of a request having both an If-Match header field and
    821816   either an If-None-Match or an If-Modified-Since header fields is
     817   undefined by this specification.
     818</t>
     819</section>
     820
     821<section title="If-None-Match" anchor="header.if-none-match">
     822  <iref primary="true" item="If-None-Match header field" x:for-anchor=""/>
     823  <iref primary="true" item="Header Fields" subitem="If-None-Match" x:for-anchor=""/>
     824  <x:anchor-alias value="If-None-Match"/>
     825<t>
     826   The "If-None-Match" header field &MAY; be used to make a request method
     827   conditional on not matching any of the current entity-tag values for
     828   representations of the target resource.  If-None-Match is primarily
     829   used in conditional GET requests to enable efficient updates of cached
     830   information with a minimum amount of transaction overhead.  A client
     831   that has one or more representations previously obtained from the
     832   target resource can send If-None-Match with a list of the associated
     833   entity-tags in the hope of receiving a 304 response if at least one
     834   of those representations matches the selected representation.
     835</t>
     836<t>
     837   If-None-Match MAY also be used with a value of "*" to prevent an unsafe
     838   request method (e.g., PUT) from inadvertently modifying an existing
     839   representation of the target resource when the client believes that
     840   the resource does not have a current representation.  This is a variation
     841   on the "lost update" problem that might arise if more than one client
     842   attempts to create an initial representation for the target resource.
     843</t>
     844<figure><artwork type="abnf2616"><iref primary="true" item="Grammar" subitem="If-None-Match"/>
     845  <x:ref>If-None-Match</x:ref> = "*" / 1#<x:ref>entity-tag</x:ref>
     846</artwork></figure>
     847<t>
     848   If any of the entity-tags listed in the If-None-Match field-value match
     849   the entity-tag of the selected representation, or if "*" is
     850   given and any current representation exists for that resource, then the
     851   server &MUST-NOT; perform the requested method.
     852   Instead, if the request method was GET or HEAD, the server &SHOULD;
     853   respond with a 304 (Not Modified) status code, including the cache-related
     854   header fields (particularly ETag) of the selected representation that has
     855   a matching entity-tag.  For all other request methods, the server &MUST;
     856   respond with a 412 (Precondition Failed) status code.
     857</t>
     858<t>
     859   If none of the entity-tags match, then the server &MAY; perform the
     860   requested method as if the If-None-Match header field did not exist,
     861   but &MUST; also ignore any If-Modified-Since header field(s) in the
     862   request. That is, if no entity-tags match, then the server &MUST-NOT;
     863   return a 304 (Not Modified) response.
     864</t>
     865<t>
     866   If the request would, without the If-None-Match header field, result
     867   in anything other than a 2xx or 304 status code, then the If-None-Match
     868   header field &MUST; be ignored. (See <xref
     869   target="rules.for.when.to.use.entity.tags.and.last-modified.dates"/> for
     870   a discussion of server behavior when both If-Modified-Since and
     871   If-None-Match appear in the same request.)
     872</t>
     873<t>
     874   Examples:
     875</t>
     876<figure><artwork type="example">
     877  If-None-Match: "xyzzy"
     878  If-None-Match: W/"xyzzy"
     879  If-None-Match: "xyzzy", "r2d2xxxx", "c3piozzzz"
     880  If-None-Match: W/"xyzzy", W/"r2d2xxxx", W/"c3piozzzz"
     881  If-None-Match: *
     882</artwork></figure>
     883<t>
     884   The result of a request having both an If-None-Match header field and
     885   either an If-Match or an If-Unmodified-Since header fields is
    822886   undefined by this specification.
    823887</t>
    … …  
    907971</section>
    908972
    909 <section title="If-None-Match" anchor="header.if-none-match">
    910   <iref primary="true" item="If-None-Match header field" x:for-anchor=""/>
    911   <iref primary="true" item="Header Fields" subitem="If-None-Match" x:for-anchor=""/>
    912   <x:anchor-alias value="If-None-Match"/>
    913 <t>
    914    The "If-None-Match" header field &MAY; be used to make a request method
    915    conditional on not matching any of the current entity-tag values for
    916    representations of the target resource.  If-None-Match is primarily
    917    used in conditional GET requests to enable efficient updates of cached
    918    information with a minimum amount of transaction overhead.  A client
    919    that has one or more representations previously obtained from the
    920    target resource can send If-None-Match with a list of the associated
    921    entity-tags in the hope of receiving a 304 response if at least one
    922    of those representations matches the selected representation.
    923 </t>
    924 <t>
    925    If-None-Match MAY also be used with a value of "*" to prevent an unsafe
    926    request method (e.g., PUT) from inadvertently modifying an existing
    927    representation of the target resource when the client believes that
    928    the resource does not have a current representation.  This is a variation
    929    on the "lost update" problem that might arise if more than one client
    930    attempts to create an initial representation for the target resource.
    931 </t>
    932 <figure><artwork type="abnf2616"><iref primary="true" item="Grammar" subitem="If-None-Match"/>
    933   <x:ref>If-None-Match</x:ref> = "*" / 1#<x:ref>entity-tag</x:ref>
    934 </artwork></figure>
    935 <t>
    936    If any of the entity-tags listed in the If-None-Match field-value match
    937    the entity-tag of the selected representation, or if "*" is
    938    given and any current representation exists for that resource, then the
    939    server &MUST-NOT; perform the requested method.
    940    Instead, if the request method was GET or HEAD, the server &SHOULD;
    941    respond with a 304 (Not Modified) status code, including the cache-related
    942    header fields (particularly ETag) of the selected representation that has
    943    a matching entity-tag.  For all other request methods, the server &MUST;
    944    respond with a 412 (Precondition Failed) status code.
    945 </t>
    946 <t>
    947    If none of the entity-tags match, then the server &MAY; perform the
    948    requested method as if the If-None-Match header field did not exist,
    949    but &MUST; also ignore any If-Modified-Since header field(s) in the
    950    request. That is, if no entity-tags match, then the server &MUST-NOT;
    951    return a 304 (Not Modified) response.
    952 </t>
    953 <t>
    954    If the request would, without the If-None-Match header field, result
    955    in anything other than a 2xx or 304 status code, then the If-None-Match
    956    header field &MUST; be ignored. (See <xref
    957    target="rules.for.when.to.use.entity.tags.and.last-modified.dates"/> for
    958    a discussion of server behavior when both If-Modified-Since and
    959    If-None-Match appear in the same request.)
    960 </t>
    961 <t>
    962    Examples:
    963 </t>
    964 <figure><artwork type="example">
    965   If-None-Match: "xyzzy"
    966   If-None-Match: W/"xyzzy"
    967   If-None-Match: "xyzzy", "r2d2xxxx", "c3piozzzz"
    968   If-None-Match: W/"xyzzy", W/"r2d2xxxx", W/"c3piozzzz"
    969   If-None-Match: *
    970 </artwork></figure>
    971 <t>
    972    The result of a request having both an If-None-Match header field and
    973    either an If-Match or an If-Unmodified-Since header fields is
    974    undefined by this specification.
    975 </t>
    976 </section>
    977 
    978973<section title="If-Unmodified-Since" anchor="header.if-unmodified-since">
    979974  <iref primary="true" item="If-Unmodified-Since header field" x:for-anchor=""/>
    … …  
    10141009</section>
    10151010
    1016 <section title="Last-Modified" anchor="header.last-modified">
    1017   <iref primary="true" item="Last-Modified header field" x:for-anchor=""/>
    1018   <iref primary="true" item="Header Fields" subitem="Last-Modified" x:for-anchor=""/>
    1019   <x:anchor-alias value="Last-Modified"/>
    1020 <t>
    1021    The "Last-Modified" header field indicates the date and time at
    1022    which the origin server believes the representation was last modified.
    1023 </t>
    1024 <figure><artwork type="abnf2616"><iref primary="true" item="Grammar" subitem="Last-Modified"/>
    1025   <x:ref>Last-Modified</x:ref> = <x:ref>HTTP-date</x:ref>
    1026 </artwork></figure>
    1027 <t>
    1028    An example of its use is
    1029 </t>
    1030 <figure><artwork type="example">
    1031   Last-Modified: Tue, 15 Nov 1994 12:45:26 GMT
    1032 </artwork></figure>
    1033 <t>
    1034    A representation is typically the sum of many parts behind the
    1035    resource interface.  The last-modified time would usually be
    1036    the most recent time that any of those parts were changed.
    1037    How that value is determined for any given resource is an
    1038    implementation detail beyond the scope of this specification.
    1039    What matters to HTTP is how recipients of the Last-Modified
    1040    header field can use its value to make conditional requests
    1041    and test the validity of locally cached responses.
    1042 </t>
    1043 <t>
    1044    An origin server &MUST-NOT; send a Last-Modified date which is later
    1045    than the server's time of message origination. In such cases, where
    1046    the resource's last modification would indicate some time in the
    1047    future, the server &MUST; replace that date with the message
    1048    origination date.
    1049 </t>
    1050 <t>
    1051    An origin server &SHOULD; obtain the Last-Modified value of the representation
    1052    as close as possible to the time that it generates the Date value of
    1053    its response. This allows a recipient to make an accurate assessment
    1054    of the representation's modification time, especially if the representation changes
    1055    near the time that the response is generated.
    1056 </t>
    1057 <t>
    1058    HTTP/1.1 servers &SHOULD; send Last-Modified whenever feasible.
    1059 </t>
    1060 <t>
    1061    The Last-Modified header field value is often used as a cache
    1062    validator. In simple terms, a cache entry is considered to be valid
    1063    if the representation has not been modified since the Last-Modified value.
    1064 </t>
    1065 </section>
    1066 
     1011</section>
     1012
     1013<section title="Status Code Definitions" anchor="status.code.definitions">
     1014<section title="304 Not Modified" anchor="status.304">
     1015  <iref primary="true" item="304 Not Modified (status code)" x:for-anchor=""/>
     1016  <iref primary="true" item="Status Codes" subitem="304 Not Modified" x:for-anchor=""/>
     1017<t>
     1018   The 304 status code indicates that a conditional GET request has been
     1019   received and would have resulted in a 200 (OK) response if it were not
     1020   for the fact that the condition has evaluated to false.  In other words,
     1021   there is no need for the server to transfer a representation of the
     1022   target resource because the client's request indicates that it already
     1023   has a valid representation, as indicated by the 304 response header
     1024   fields, and is therefore redirecting the client to make use of that
     1025   stored representation as if it were the payload of a 200 response.
     1026   The 304 response &MUST-NOT; contain a message-body, and thus is always
     1027   terminated by the first empty line after the header fields.
     1028</t>
     1029<t>
     1030   A 304 response &MUST; include a Date header field (&header-date;)
     1031   unless its omission is required by &clockless;.  If a 200 response
     1032   to the same request would have included any of the header fields
     1033   Cache-Control, Content-Location, ETag, Expires, Last-Modified, or
     1034   Vary, then those same header fields &MUST; be sent in a 304 response.
     1035</t>
     1036<t>
     1037   Since the goal of a 304 response is to minimize information transfer
     1038   when the recipient already has one or more cached representations,
     1039   the response &SHOULD-NOT; include representation metadata other
     1040   than the above listed fields unless said metadata exists for the
     1041   purpose of guiding cache updates (e.g., future HTTP extensions).
     1042</t>
     1043<t>
     1044   If the recipient of a 304 response does not have a cached representation
     1045   corresponding to the entity-tag indicated by the 304 response, then the
     1046   recipient &MUST-NOT; use the 304 to update its own cache.  If this
     1047   conditional request originated with an outbound client, such as a
     1048   user agent with its own cache sending a conditional GET to a shared
     1049   proxy, then the 304 response &MAY; be forwarded to the outbound client.
     1050   Otherwise, the recipient &MUST; disregard the 304 response and repeat
     1051   the request without any preconditions.
     1052</t>
     1053<t>
     1054   If a cache uses a received 304 response to update a cache entry, the
     1055   cache &MUST; update the entry to reflect any new field values given in
     1056   the response.
     1057</t>
     1058</section>
     1059
     1060<section title="412 Precondition Failed" anchor="status.412">
     1061  <iref primary="true" item="412 Precondition Failed (status code)" x:for-anchor=""/>
     1062  <iref primary="true" item="Status Codes" subitem="412 Precondition Failed" x:for-anchor=""/>
     1063<t>
     1064   The 412 status code indicates that one or more preconditions given in
     1065   the request header fields evaluated to false when tested on the server.
     1066   This response code allows the client to place preconditions on the
     1067   current resource state (its current representations and metadata)
     1068   and thus prevent the request method from being applied if the target
     1069   resource is in an unexpected state.
     1070</t>
     1071</section>
    10671072</section>
    10681073
Note: See TracChangeset for help on using the changeset viewer.