Using RFC3229 with Feeds Does Not Validate

In an effort to cut down on the bandwidth used by RSS feeds, Subtext implements the RFC3229 for feeds as proposed by Bob Wyman.

Unfortunately, FeedValidator.org now says my feed is not valid. The reason is that Feed Validator assumes that the HTTP Status code of 226 IM Used is an error. Perhaps it does not yet recognize RFC3229.

What others have said

Bob Wyman Jun 30, 2005 11:45 AM

# re: Using RFC3229 with Feeds Does Not Validate

You should only be returning a response of 226 if the client has requested delta encoding. If the client does NOT request delta encoding, you should not do delta encoding and should return an error code of 200. In this case, it appears that the FeedValidator is doing the right thing. You appear to be returning 226 in a context in which it should not appear.

bob wyman

Sharp as a Marble Jun 30, 2005 12:41 PM

# re: Using RFC3229 with Feeds Does Not Validate

Lucky you. Most validators tell me my code is fine but rather my opinions that aren't valid...

haacked Jun 30, 2005 2:40 PM

# re: Using RFC3229 with Feeds Does Not Validate

Thanks for the reply Bob. I was confused a bit because of this line in the spec:

---
(Note: It is not strictly necessary for the client to request the "feed" IM method in all cases since some servers may actually apply this method by default. Nonetheless, it is good form to request it since some servers may not use the method unless it is requested.)
---

Since the client isn't required to send the "feed" IM method, I thought it would be OK to return HTTP Status 226. However, it looks like I really should (as a server) only send that status if I see that the client is specifically requesting "A-IM: feed".

Is that correct?