[H-GEN] Apache and redirects

[Bruce Campbell]

[ Humbug *General* list - semi-serious discussions about Humbug and ]
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On Tue, 14 Dec 1999, Martin Pool wrote:

martin> Yes, that's what it does.  In HTTP URLs, 
martin>   http://10.10.10.2/netsaint 
martin> is not the same as 
martin>   http://10.10.10.2/netsaint/ 

This also applies to site names[4], ie:

	http://www.humbug.org.au

is not the same as

	http://www.humbug.org.au/

Incidentally, forgetting the trailing '/' is a sin, because your web
browser has made two requests, thus furthering the definition of the
WWW[1].

Of course, your web browser may then try to second-guess URLs, and append
a '/' to a given request.  For an example of why this sort of
second-guessing is bad, certain versions of Internet Explorer[2], when
encountering a URL like:

	http://ftp.apnic.net/pub/apnic/docs/database-update-info

incorrectly assume that this is a directory and make the request from the
start as:

	http://ftp.apnic.net/pub/apnic/docs/database-update-info/

Since the above is a file, not a directory, this fails.  As the browser
has *not* requested the correct URL, its the browser's problem, not the
site.

--==--
Bruce.

[1] World Wide Wait.
[2] The price Microsoft paid to trademark that term[3] is astounding.
[3] 'Internet' is still a trademarked term.
[4] footnote out of order, but whats in a (host)name?[5]
[5] /^([A-Za-z]([A-Za-z0-9-]{0,61}[A-Za-z0-9]{1,1}){0,1}\.){1,126}[A-Za-z]{2,5}$/ 


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