Josh Cohen has written his own little document arguing against the use of
POST in general, but taking IPP as an example.
Carl-Uno
-->To: IETF-Announce@ns.ietf.org >From: Internet-Drafts@ns.ietf.org >Reply-to: Internet-Drafts@ns.ietf.org >Subject: I-D ACTION:draft-cohen-http-ext-postal-00.txt >Date: Tue, 17 Feb 1998 04:09:58 PST >Sender: scoya@cnri.reston.va.us > >A New Internet-Draft is available from the on-line Internet-Drafts directories. > > > Title : Don't Go Postal - An argument against > improperly overloading the HTTP POST Method > Author(s) : J. Cohen et al. > Filename : draft-cohen-http-ext-postal-00.txt > Pages : > Date : 16-Feb-98 > >As time goes on, more and more groups are extending HTTP's functionality. In using HTTP, a decision is made to either use a new method name for new functionality or to overload an existing one such as POST. Our belief is that in most cases, overloading existing method names, with POST as a particularly troublesome example, is a bad idea. We, as a group of individuals, suggest that the default requirement for new HTTP functionality must be to create a new method name. > >Internet-Drafts are available by anonymous FTP. Login with the username >"anonymous" and a password of your e-mail address. After logging in, >type "cd internet-drafts" and then > "get draft-cohen-http-ext-postal-00.txt". >A URL for the Internet-Draft is: >ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-cohen-http-ext-postal-00.txt > >Internet-Drafts directories are located at: > > Africa: ftp.is.co.za > > Europe: ftp.nordu.net > ftp.nis.garr.it > > Pacific Rim: munnari.oz.au > > US East Coast: ds.internic.net > > US West Coast: ftp.isi.edu > >Internet-Drafts are also available by mail. > >Send a message to: mailserv@ds.internic.net. In the body type: > "FILE /internet-drafts/draft-cohen-http-ext-postal-00.txt". > >NOTE: The mail server at ds.internic.net can return the document in > MIME-encoded form by using the "mpack" utility. To use this > feature, insert the command "ENCODING mime" before the "FILE" > command. To decode the response(s), you will need "munpack" or > a MIME-compliant mail reader. Different MIME-compliant mail readers > exhibit different behavior, especially when dealing with > "multipart" MIME messages (i.e. documents which have been split > up into multiple messages), so check your local documentation on > how to manipulate these messages. > > >Below is the data which will enable a MIME compliant mail reader >implementation to automatically retrieve the ASCII version of the >Internet-Draft. > ><ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-cohen-http-ext-postal-00.txt> > Carl-Uno Manros Principal Engineer - Advanced Printing Standards - Xerox Corporation 701 S. Aviation Blvd., El Segundo, CA, M/S: ESAE-231 Phone +1-310-333 8273, Fax +1-310-333 5514 Email: manros@cp10.es.xerox.com