[Web-SIG] HEAD requests, WSGI gateways, and middleware

[Graham Dumpleton]

On 25/01/2008, Brian Smith <brian at briansmith.org> wrote:
> Graham Dumpleton wrote:
> > If Apache mod_wsgi (the WSGI gateway) does then do this, ie.,
> > didn't iterate through the iterable and therefore didn't
> > return the content through to Apache, it would as explained
> > cause traditional Apache output filters to potentially yield
> > incorrect results. This is what I am highlighting.
> >
> > So Apache mod_wsgi couldn't avoid processing the iterable,
> > unless as you allude to with how internals of how Apache is
> > used to implement wsgi.file_wrapper support, that mod_wsgi
> > similarly detected when no Apache output filters are
> > registered that could add additional headers and skip the processing.
>
> Right, my idea was that mod_wsgi could implement a new bucket type,
> where the iteration is done if and only if some output filter reads from
> the bucket. But, if no output filters read from the bucket, then the
> iteration would never happen.

Unfortunately as I think I mentioned on mod_wsgi list previously, that
may not be trivial. :-)

> > Pardon me if I am not understanding very well, I did not get
> > much sleep last night because of baby and my head hurts. :-(
>
> Not your (or your daughter's) fault; I wrote something different from
> what I meant.

Okay, clearer now.

> I hope tonight is easier on you. Good luck!

I hope so too. Am going home early now, but the boss will probably not
allow me to read email for a couple of days until I am fully
recovered, so you'll probably not hear from me more on this issue. I
certainly understand what you are saying and the potential need for
it, so will be interesting to see what final consensus is.

Graham