> computing the headers, sure. But there are number of things that you
> might want to be in the headers (like date last modified, md5 checksum,
> content language, content length, etc) and they need the whole page to
> be computed anyway.
>
> You could argue that sending minimalistic headers to speed up head
> requests is possible, but then you're fucking proxies which are there to
> save you bandwidth and CPU anyway.
Well, you won't save CPU if you need to compute the whole page anyway...
And we're talking of dynamic generated pages, most won't be cached, and those
that will might as well send an Expires: header, in which case the proxy
and browser will cache the data unless the user forces the cache to be skiped.
> > When I think more about it may be if PerlSendHeader is On, we can adjust
> > the code that parses the script's output in search for headers, to
> > return when it finds the 'Content-type' header.
>
> Maybe there should be an option, like
>
> ManageHeadRequests [On|Off]
And another one, Fake or Skip that would just return standard ones, without
even bother to run the script... Then the admin will be able to choose the
best for it's cause...
> The option might be 'Off' by default for backwards compatibility.
Backward compatibility with a bug? I don't even think there should be
a Off setting. Sending the content in a HEAD request is, IMHO, a violation
of the HTTP protocol.
Also, I think the handler shoulnd't just terminate the script, but send the
output until the end of the headers (the first blank line), close the
connection, but wait till the scripts ends by it self. Killing it could
provoke database corruption or similar problems...
> That would do the Right Thing whenever a HEAD request is invoked on the
> script. I'm quite surprised that this whole issue doesn't seem to have
> been raised yet - or maybe I missed something?
Well, we all have been missing it. :( Most probably because when the scripts
were only CGI they worked fine, and switching to mod_perl required just a
few checks, normally done with a regular browser.
Regards,
Luciano Rocha
--
Luciano Rocha, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
The trouble with computers is that they do what you tell them, not what
you want.
-- D. Cohen
