Hypertext Transfer Protocol Bis (httpbis) ----------------------------------------- Charter Last Modified: 2008-08-21 Current Status: Active Working Group Chair(s): Mark Nottingham Applications Area Director(s): Chris Newman Lisa Dusseault Applications Area Advisor: Lisa Dusseault Mailing Lists: General Discussion:ietf-http-wg@w3.org To Subscribe: http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/ietf-http-wg/ Archive: Description of Working Group: HTTP is one of the most successful and widely-used protocols on the Internet today. However, its specification has several editorial issues. Additionally, after years of implementation and extension, several ambiguities have become evident, impairing interoperability and the ability to easily implement and use HTTP. The working group will refine RFC2616 to: * Incorporate errata and updates (e.g., references, IANA registries, ABNF) * Fix editorial problems which have led to misunderstandings of the specification * Clarify conformance requirements * Remove known ambiguities where they affect interoperability * Clarify existing methods of extensibility * Remove or deprecate those features that are not widely implemented and also unduly affect interoperability * Where necessary, add implementation advice * Document the security properties of HTTP and its associated echanisms (e.g., Basic and Digest authentication, cookies, TLS) for common applications In doing so, it should consider: * Implementer experience * Demonstrated use of HTTP * Impact on existing implementations and deployments The Working Group must not introduce a new version of HTTP and should not add new functionality to HTTP. The WG is not tasked with producing new methods, headers, or extension mechanisms, but may introduce new protocol elements if necessary as part of revising existing functionality which has proven to be problematic The Working Group's specification deliverables are: * A document that is suitable to supersede RFC 2616 * A document cataloguing the security properties of HTTP Goals and Milestones: Done First HTTP Revision Internet Draft Feb 2008 First HTTP Security Properties Internet Draft Jun 2008 Request Last Call for HTTP Revision Jul 2008 Request Last Call for HTTP Security Properties Oct 2008 Submit HTTP Revision to IESG for consideration as a Draft Standard Oct 2008 Submit HTTP Security Properties to IESG for consideration as Informational Internet-Drafts: Posted Revised I-D Title ------ ------- -------------------------------------------- Dec 2007 Aug 2008 HTTP/1.1, part 1: URIs, Connections, and Message Parsing Dec 2007 Aug 2008 HTTP/1.1, part 2: Message Semantics Dec 2007 Aug 2008 HTTP/1.1, part 3: Message Payload and Content Negotiation Dec 2007 Aug 2008 HTTP/1.1, part 4: Conditional Requests Dec 2007 Aug 2008 HTTP/1.1, part 5: Range Requests and Partial Responses Dec 2007 Aug 2008 HTTP/1.1, part 6: Caching Dec 2007 Aug 2008 HTTP/1.1, part 7: Authentication Jan 2008 Jul 2008 Security Requirements for HTTP Request For Comments: None to date.