*BSD News Article 72427


Return to BSD News archive

Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.rmit.EDU.AU!news.unimelb.EDU.AU!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!news.wildstar.net!news.sdsmt.edu!news.mid.net!sbctri.tri.sbc.com!newspump.wustl.edu!news.ecn.bgu.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news1.erols.com!newsmaster@erols.com
From: Ken Bigelow <kbigelow@www.play-hookey.com>
Newsgroups: demon.ip.support,demon.tech.unix,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Batch FTP and Web Pages
Date: Sat, 29 Jun 1996 20:27:23 -0700
Organization: Erols Internet Services
Lines: 27
Message-ID: <31D5F41B.7087@www.play-hookey.com>
References: <31c2e7bd.14691630@news.demon.co.uk> <834878464snz@pair.com> <834921960snz@michaels.demon.co.uk> <835206024.5881.2@diltd.demon.co.uk> <slrn4sgtd6.ds.dom@myrddin.demon.co.uk> <835294223.22071.1@diltd.demon.co.uk> <slrn4sjj16.cs.dom@myrddin.demon.co.uk> <199606261821.SAA02204@mauve.demon.co.uk> <4qtcee$n1h@alfie.demon.co.uk> <31D42221.58C3@www.play-hookey.com> <slrn4t9u0r.vj.andy@gently.demon.co.uk> <31D4AA3A.BC0@www.play-hookey.com> <slrn4tciqa.6d.andy@gently.demon.co.uk>
NNTP-Posting-Host: kenjb05.play-hookey.com
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.02 (Win16; I)

Andy Hawkins wrote:

  [snip...]

> >I'm not saying a reget capability wouldn't be handy in these circumstances, but
> >I think the demand is so slight that there is no serious call to make the
> >change. Certainly I wouldn't care to upsize my own httpd server that way -- but
> >then I don't have any files to download from here, and don't intend to.
> 
> We're not talking about a mod to the server (or rather, we weren't
> originally <g>). The subject of this thread is 'Batch FTP and Web Pages',
> although it does seem to have drifted from there.
> 

Uhhh... Think again, please! We are talking about allowing a client to request 
*part* of a file, starting from any point within the file. For that to happen, the 
*server* must be able to recognize and fulfil the request, and start the transfer 
from the designated point within the file. At present, an http server always 
responds to a request by sending the entire file, from the beginning.

I considered it obvious from the first post on this topic that one requirement for 
fulfilment would be modifications to the server. I'd love to hear some 
alternative, but I sure can't think of one, beyond the possibility that the client 
could request the whole file but ignore everything it's already gotten. Kind of 
defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

Ken