Re: Proxy Servers

Lou Montulli (montulli@stat1.cc.ukans.edu)
Thu, 17 Feb 1994 21:26:25 --100


>
>
> In article <9402161923.AA67580@stat1.cc.ukans.edu>, montulli@stat1.cc.ukans.edu (Lou Montulli) writes:
> |> Tim I have to disagree. The code that was in the WWWlibrary
> |> DID NOT send the entire URL unmodified, it sent only the
> |> host and path part and it has worked that way for as long
> |> as I can remember.
>
> I can remember that the libs used with Mosaic 1.2 and the early 2.0alphas
> sent the full URL. I know, 'cause I had to modify the gopher and http
> gateways I'd written, after that versions :)

Whatever the case may be, WWW_protocol_GATEWAY has acted in its
current manner for a very long period of time. I think that
it is unwise to change its action suddenly. A new environment
variable is still justified.

>
> Another proposal :)
>
> |> From: altis@ibeam.jf.intel.com (Kevin Altis)
> |> Date: Fri, 11 Feb 94 15:09:43 GMT
> |>
> |> of the HTTP message is the same. For gopher and ftp, the proxy gateway
> |> server will return the data encapsulated as a MIME content type to the
> |> client like a normal HTTP message. HTTP MIME content types are returned for
> |> all URL requests, regardless of the protocol type of the URL. FTP
> |> directories, Gopher directories, etc. are returned as text/html.
>
> I have always wondered, why e.g. gopher gateways should have to
> convert the data they gate.
> With the new gateway code I hoped we might have an *easy* way to gate
> things, simply manage a binary 1:1 connection between client and destination.
> But as I understand it this is not the case?
> But why should a gateway encode the answer from a gopher server e.g.
> wenn a client like Mosaic could do it himself and in a much neater
> way with (internal-) icons and so on.
>
That could be possible (although I'm not sure it's wise) by
specifying a mime type for the gopher directory syntax and
passing that mime type and the gopher syntax to the client.

We can do just as good a job by specifying a common set of
icons with unique names (similar to the internal images
mosaic supports now) and using those names in gopher and
ftp directory listings.

:lou

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