[Web-SIG] a possible error in the WSGI spec

[Manlio Perillo]

Hi.

It seems that there is a little error in the WSGI spec.

In the "Specification Details" chapter there is this note:

"""(Note: the application must invoke the start_response() callable 
before the iterable yields its first body string, so that the server can 
send the headers before any body content. However, this invocation may 
be performed by the iterable's first iteration, so servers must not 
assume that start_response() has been called before they begin iterating 
over the iterable.)"""


What's wrong is that the invocation of start_response may be performed 
at any iteration of the iterable, as long as the application yields 
empty strings.



There is also a little problem in the "The start_response() Callable" 
chapter, in this phrase:

"""The start_response callable must not actually transmit the response 
headers. Instead, it must store them for the server or gateway to 
transmit only after the first iteration of the application return value 
that yields a non-empty string, or upon the application's first 
invocation of the write() callable"""


 From this it seems that the response headers should be transmitted 
after the first invocation of the write() callable, even if it returns 
an empty string, but this is in contradiction with the following phrase:

"""In other words, response headers must not be sent until there is 
actual body data available, or until the application's returned iterable 
is exhausted"""




Manlio Perillo