RFC 7231, "Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Semantics and Content", June 2014

Note: This RFC has been obsoleted by RFC 9110

Errata ID: 5300
Status: Rejected
Type: Technical
Publication Format(s) : TEXT
Reported By: Jeffrey Yasskin
Date Reported: 2018-03-24
Rejected by: Francesca Palombini
Date Rejected: 2021-08-23

Section 8.1 says:

8.1.1.  Procedure

   HTTP method registrations MUST include the following fields:

   o  Method Name (see Section 4)

   o  Safe ("yes" or "no", see Section 4.2.1)

   o  Idempotent ("yes" or "no", see Section 4.2.2)

   o  Pointer to specification text

   Values to be added to this namespace require IETF Review (see
   [RFC5226], Section 4.1).

…

8.1.3.  Registrations

   The "Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Method Registry" has been
   populated with the registrations below:

   +---------+------+------------+---------------+
   | Method  | Safe | Idempotent | Reference     |
   +---------+------+------------+---------------+
   | CONNECT | no   | no         | Section 4.3.6 |
   | DELETE  | no   | yes        | Section 4.3.5 |
   | GET     | yes  | yes        | Section 4.3.1 |
   | HEAD    | yes  | yes        | Section 4.3.2 |
   | OPTIONS | yes  | yes        | Section 4.3.7 |
   | POST    | no   | no         | Section 4.3.3 |
   | PUT     | no   | yes        | Section 4.3.4 |
   | TRACE   | yes  | yes        | Section 4.3.8 |
   +---------+------+------------+---------------+

It should say:

8.1.1.  Procedure

   HTTP method registrations MUST include the following fields:

   o  Method Name (see Section 4)

   o  Safe ("yes" or "no", see Section 4.2.1)

   o  Idempotent ("yes" or "no", see Section 4.2.2)

   o  Cacheable ("yes" or "no", see Section 4.2.3)

   o  Pointer to specification text

   Values to be added to this namespace require IETF Review (see
   [RFC5226], Section 4.1).

…

8.1.3.  Registrations

   The "Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Method Registry" has been
   populated with the registrations below:

   +---------+------+------------+-----------+---------------+
   | Method  | Safe | Idempotent | Cacheable | Reference     |
   +---------+------+------------+-----------+---------------+
   | CONNECT | no   | no         | no        | Section 4.3.6 |
   | DELETE  | no   | yes        | no        | Section 4.3.5 |
   | GET     | yes  | yes        | yes       | Section 4.3.1 |
   | HEAD    | yes  | yes        | yes       | Section 4.3.2 |
   | OPTIONS | yes  | yes        | no        | Section 4.3.7 |
   | POST    | no   | no         | yes       | Section 4.3.3 |
   | PUT     | no   | yes        | no        | Section 4.3.4 |
   | TRACE   | yes  | yes        | no        | Section 4.3.8 |
   +---------+------+------------+-----------+---------------+

Notes:

HTTP Methods have 3 boolean properties, all of which 8.1.2 says a registration needs to define, but only 2 of them were included in the registry.
--VERIFIER NOTES--
As discussed during work on the HTTP core documents:
> "Cacheable" is not a boolean property of the method, but rather a capability inherent in the system in which one aspect is the method semantics.
See https://github.com/httpwg/http-core/issues/54 for detailed discussion.

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