Re: [PATCH] hurd/translator/httpfs.mdwn: I added a Intro, how to use, and TODO section. hurd/translator/xmlfs.mdwn: I added a How to use and TODO wishlist section.

[Amos Jeffries]

With my hat on as an IETF HTTPbis WG member. Here are some editorial
nits in regards to HTTP protocol things being mentioned ...


On 10/09/20 2:29 am, Joshua Branson wrote:
> I copied most of the text from the Hurd extras repos.
> ---
>  hurd/translator/httpfs.mdwn | 68 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  hurd/translator/xmlfs.mdwn  | 77 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  2 files changed, 145 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/hurd/translator/httpfs.mdwn b/hurd/translator/httpfs.mdwn
> index 8b02aa06..97feb291 100644
> --- a/hurd/translator/httpfs.mdwn
> +++ b/hurd/translator/httpfs.mdwn
> @@ -12,6 +12,74 @@ License|/fdl]]."]]"""]]
>  
>  While the httpfs translator works, it is only suitable for very simple use 
> cases: it just provides the actual file contents downloaded from the URL, but 
> no additional status information that are necessary for interactive use. 
> (Progress indication, error codes, HTTP redirects etc.)
>  
> +# Intro
> +INTRODUCTION:
> +
> +Here we describe the structure of the /http filesystem for the Hurd.
> +Under the Hurd, we provide a translator called 'httpfs' which is intended
> +to provide the filesystem structure.
> +
> +The httpfs translator accepts an URL as an argument. The underlying node of 
> the

"URL" can mean a lot of things, including mailto:john@example.com.
Since this translator is for HTTP protocol specifically this should say
"http:// URL" to avoid other URLs being used (eg https://).

> +
> +# How to Use httpfs
> +
> +    # settrans -a tmp/ /hurd/httpfs www.hurd-project.com/
> +

The above does not contain a valid HTTP URL. It is one type of URL the
translator supports, but that form is not valid in modern software.

Luckily the translator does already accept absolute-URI. So this and the
below two references should say:

 settrans -a tmp/ /hurd/httpfs http://www.hurd-project.com/



> +<Remember to give the / at the end of the URL, unless you are specifying a 
> specific file like www.hurd-project.com/httpfs.html >
> +
> +    # cd tmp/
> +
> +    # ls -l
> +
> +    # settrans -a tmp/ /hurd/httpfs www.hurd-project.com/ 
> --proxy=192.168.1.103
> +                             --port=3126
> +
> +The above command should be used in case if the access to the Internet is
> +through a proxy server, substitute your proxies IP and port no.s
> +
> +# TODO
> +
> +- Teach httpfs to understand HTTP status codes like re-directs, 404 not 
> found,
> +  etc.
> +
> +- Teach httpfs to look for "sitemaps".  Many sites offer a sitemap, and this
> +  would be a nifty way for httpfs to allow grep-ing the entire site's 
> contents.


Some more potential TODOs for todays HTTP environment:

 - https:// support
 - scheme-relative URL support (eg. "//example.com/")
 - query-string and fragment support
 - HTTP/1.1 support
 - HTTP/2 support
 - HTTP/3 support


HTH
Amos