Date: Tue, 1 Dec 1998 17:52:10 -0800 (PST)
From: Dean Gaudet <dgaudet@arctic.org>
To: new-httpd@apache.org
Subject: Re: Compression via content negotiation
In-Reply-To: <36649896.3C48@alumni.cse.ucsc.edu>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.96dg4.981201174813.4463y-100000@twinlark.arctic.org>
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On Tue, 1 Dec 1998, Paul Ausbeck wrote:

> On Tue, 1 Dec 1998, Dean Gaudet Wrote:
> 
> > Why is this a problem?  Didn't we just add the "default-handler" or
> > something?  Just name the file foo.html.def rather than foo.html, and add
> > a "AddHandler default .def" (check the code I may have this wrong).
> > There's no need to add more code.  This way you also get the advantage of
> > having some semblance of speed for those files for which there is zero
> > negotiation possible (i.e. foo.jpg, blah.zip, yeehaw.mp3, whatever).
> > 
> 
> I need a request for an ambiguous url, say "index", to negotiate between
> index.html and index.html.gz. That way I can publish a single url and
> use a single link on other pages and get a compressed file transferred
> if the client can handle it and uncompressed otherwise. I believe the
> AddHandler code would only come into play if an explicit request for
> index.html.gz was received. If I am wrong please let me know, as I am
> completely lost.

What you want is already there.  Turn on multiviews, and request "index" 
and you'll get negotiation between "index.html" and "index.html.gz". 
(Whether it does what you want is another question entirely... it
certainly works for languages.)  My suggestion was aimed at people who
want to use "index.html" to refer to the object.  Apache doesn't negotiate
if the named file exists... and I really don't think it should -- it's a
performance overhead that's not required for the many files that aren't
negotiated.

Regarding the compression issue, if I have time I'll try to find the
summary that was posted here in the summer... or you can dig through the
archives mentioned at dev.apache.org.  I want to stress that I forget all
the exact details, but there were some salient points that I don't want to
be overlooked.

Dean