Instance Digests in HTTP
RFC 3230, “Instance Digests in HTTP”, is a Proposed Standard document published in January 2002 by J. Mogul, A. Van Hoff. It has been obsoleted by RFC 9530 — refer to the newer document for the authoritative version. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.
Abstract
HTTP/1.1 defines a Content-MD5 header that allows a server to include a digest of the response body. However, this is specifically defined to cover the body of the actual message, not the contents of the full file (which might be quite different, if the response is a Content-Range, or uses a delta encoding). Also, the Content-MD5 is limited to one specific digest algorithm; other algorithms, such as SHA-1 (Secure Hash Standard), may be more appropriate in some circumstances. Finally, HTTP/1.1 provides no explicit mechanism by which a client may request a digest. This document proposes HTTP extensions that solve these problems. [STANDARDS-TRACK]
What “Proposed Standard” means
An entry-level standards-track specification: stable, peer-reviewed and a solid basis for implementation, though it may still evolve before becoming an Internet Standard.
The canonical text of RFC 3230 is hosted at rfc-editor.org. Available in TXT,HTML.
- RFC 3229 Delta encoding in HTTP
- RFC 3231 Definitions of Managed Objects for Scheduling Management Operations
- RFC 3228 IANA Considerations for IPv4 Internet Group Management Protocol
- RFC 3232 Assigned Numbers: RFC 1700 is Replaced by an On-line Database
- RFC 3227 Guidelines for Evidence Collection and Archiving
- RFC 3233 Defining the IETF
- RFC 3234 Middleboxes: Taxonomy and Issues
- RFC 3235 Network Address Translator -Friendly Application Design Guidelines