Re: CERN httpd and libwww 2.14 released

Rob McCool (robm@ncsa.uiuc.edu)
Tue, 16 Nov 1993 14:47:36 -0600

/*
* Re: CERN httpd and libwww 2.14 released by George Phillips (phillips@cs.ubc.ca)
* written on Nov 16, 11:11am.
*
* Ari Luotonen says:
* > | - currently is also compatible with NCSA server with
* > | the exception of parameter unescaping
*
* I wouldn't call it compatible if they differ on something so basic
* as whether the arguments are unescaped or not. There's a bigger
* problem though -- NCSA's script interface is still a moving target.
* It's not going to move far and it will be making some important
* changes, but if CERN's script interface is frozen, it'll have
* a hard time changing to be compatible.
*
* I think this underscores why we really need something like a
* SCRIPT_PROTO environment variable so that portable (between servers)
* gateway scripts can be written.

I have a created an env. variable called "SERVER_SOFTWARE" which contains
NCSA/1.0a6 right now. Is this what you had in mind?

* While I'm whining, it occurs to me that it'd be useful for a script
* to have some way of knowing what method it is doing. NCSA HTTPD
* seems to cover this now by having different GET and POST scripts.
* This is workable, but tossing in something to let the script
* explicitly know (environment variable?) would be nice and would
* make the external gateway scripts easier to run under the x-exec:
* URL scheme.

I have created an env. variable called $SCRIPT_METHOD which contains either
"GET" or "POST".

* I hate to dote on this, but the ability to share stuff between servers
* is important. Even if the server's don't exactly agree, it would
* be nice if either portable scripts are possible or if Plexus can
* support every script interface under the sun.
*/

It is important. I'd like to see a uniform script interface as well.

--Rob