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List:       php-general
Subject:    Re: [PHP] [RFC] HTTP timezone
From:       Stut <stuttle () gmail ! com>
Date:       2007-06-09 17:32:36
Message-ID: 466AE434.9010605 () gmail ! com
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Stefanos Harhalakis wrote:
> On Saturday 09 June 2007, Stut wrote:
>>>   Just wanted the opinion of PHP people/developers since PHP programmers
>>> will be most affected by this. Can you point me to the proper php related
>>> list to ask?
>> I fail to see how "PHP programmers will be most affected by this" since
>> it would equally apply to any web developer using any language.
> 
> By saying PHP programmers I mean people using PHP to write programs and not 
> developers of the PHP language. I'm saying 'most' since the majority of 
> dynamic web pages are written in PHP. Of course anyone writting non-static 
> web content will be able to use it.

I meant people using PHP to write programs also. I would dispute your 
assertion that the majority of dynamic web pages are written in PHP. I 
would accept an assertion that PHP is one of the most widely used 
languages for web development.

But this is all more off-topic than your original request.

>> However, I like the idea but would modify it slightly such that it send
>> an RFC 2822 formatted date which will include the timezone but would
>> also allow the server to determine if the datetime on the client is
>> wrong. This can be important for applications that make extensive use of
>> client-side technologies such as Javascript.
> 
> I've already thought about providing the full time but I didn't find any 
> applications. Can you provide some examples about its usage? How can you tell 
> whether a user has wrong time and not wrong timezone?

You can't. But just because we can't immediately think of a use doesn't 
mean uses don't exist.

Now, to the point. Including the time would only slightly modify RFC 
2616 which states that "Clients SHOULD only send a Date header field in 
messages that include an entity-body, as in the case of PUT and POST 
requests, and even then it is optional" (section 14.18).

I don't know the reason for that clause excluding other requests, but 
you would be well-advised to find out why before submitting your RFC. In 
any event, adding a new header seems daft to me when there is an 
existing header that is currently acceptable in certain cases that 
includes the information your new header would provide.

In my opinion your RFC should recommend that "Clients SHOULD send a Date 
header with every request unless the client does not have a clock. A 
client without a clock MUST NOT send a Date header field in a  request."

-Stut

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