Anthony Bryan wrote:
Hello,
I figured this would be a good place to ask about Metalink downloads
with proxies.
Metalinks are XML files that list the mirrors a file is available
from, checksums, sometimes signatures, and other useful info. They're
frequently used for large files like ISOs. I've included a sample
metalink at the end of this message.
I am not familiar with how proxies work internally. If a file listed
in a metalink is already cached, but a different URI is used then I
assume it won't be recognized and will be requested again since it
seems to be an uncached file?
Yes.
I'm wondering if the checksums in a metalink or something else could
be used to see if the file is the same or not. Are there other
possible Metalink issues with proxies?
No. Proxies usually make decisions based on the *request* HTTP headers
and client source IP. Before the object is ever received.
Which for example may be nothing more than:
"
GET http://example.com/meta.dat HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
"
As you can see, no checksum present. Even if the object *after
retrieval* may turn out to be a duplicate, its far too late.
We are working on an Internet Draft for Metalink at
http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-bryan-metalink-03 .
Also, I noticed 2 minor typos on 2 pages:
"...provide static, dymanic and streaming content" on
http://www.squid-cache.org/Intro/
dynamic
"...during the developmen and not for general users." on
http://www.squid-cache.org/Support/mailing-lists.dyn
development
Thank you. Fixed.
Amos
--
Please use Squid 2.7.STABLE4 or 3.0.STABLE9
