Content-length header (was Re: request for new forms...)

Keith Moore (moore@cs.utk.edu)
Tue, 12 Oct 1993 14:03:28 -0400


Tony Sanders writes...

> As you know I'm for just using the POST method. See example below of how
> I think this should work.
[...]
>
> Example form:
> <FORM ACTION="http://www.bsdi.com/hyplan/sanders.html">
> <INPUT NAME="name">
> </FORM>
>
> Client:
> POST /hyplan/sanders.html HTTP/1.0
> Content-Length: 13
> MIME-Version: 1.0
> Content-type: www/form

[...]

I know HTTP isn't SMTP, but I feel compelled to point out that the
Content-Length header is not blessed by any standard. In fact, there is no
definition. The MIME working group explicitly decided NOT to include such a
header in MIME, because it could not be made to work correctly over the
variety of mail transports in existance.

(The current popular use of Content-Length in RFC 822 based email is both
nonstandard and hazardous. At best it is useless information.)

You could call this use of Content-Length a part of the HTTP protocol, but I
believe it will confuse the issue to use Content-Length in this manner. It
looks too much like a email header, and I fear this usage will only add to
the confusion.

Keith