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RFC 7237 INFORMATIONAL HTTP · REGISTRIES

HTTP Method Registry: Initial Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Method Registrations

The initial registrations of HTTP methods defined before the IANA registry.

On rfc-editor.org ↗
PUBLISHED
June 2014
AUTHORS
J. Reschke
ORG
greenbytes
STREAM
IETF
DOI
10.17487/RFC7237

RFC text

Contents
Original text · RFC Editor View on rfc-editor.org ↗ 
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                        J. Reschke
Request for Comments: 7237                                    greenbytes
Category: Informational                                        June 2014
ISSN: 2070-1721


    Initial Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Method Registrations

Abstract

   This document registers those Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
   methods that have been defined in RFCs before the IANA HTTP Method
   Registry was established.

Status of This Memo

   This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
   published for informational purposes.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Not all documents
   approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
   Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7237.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2014 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
   2.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
   3.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
   4.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.  Introduction

   This document registers those Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
   methods that have been defined in RFCs other than [RFC7231] before
   the IANA HTTP Method Registry was established.

2.  Security Considerations

   There are no security considerations related to the registration
   itself.

   Security considerations applicable to the individual HTTP methods
   ought to be discussed in the specifications that define them.

3.  IANA Considerations

   The table below provides registrations of HTTP method names that have
   been added to the IANA "Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Method
   Registry" at <http://www.iana.org/assignments/http-methods> (see
   Section 8.1 of [RFC7231]).

   +-------------------+------+------------+---------------------------+
   | Method Name       | Safe | Idempotent | Reference                 |
   +-------------------+------+------------+---------------------------+
   | ACL               | no   | yes        | [RFC3744], Section 8.1    |
   | BASELINE-CONTROL  | no   | yes        | [RFC3253], Section 12.6   |
   | BIND              | no   | yes        | [RFC5842], Section 4      |
   | CHECKIN           | no   | yes        | [RFC3253], Section 4.4    |
   |                   |      |            | and [RFC3253], Section    |
   |                   |      |            | 9.4                       |
   | CHECKOUT          | no   | yes        | [RFC3253], Section 4.3    |
   |                   |      |            | and [RFC3253], Section    |
   |                   |      |            | 8.8                       |
   | COPY              | no   | yes        | [RFC4918], Section 9.8    |
   | LABEL             | no   | yes        | [RFC3253], Section 8.2    |
   | LINK              | no   | yes        | [RFC2068], Section        |
   |                   |      |            | 19.6.1.2                  |
   | LOCK              | no   | no         | [RFC4918], Section 9.10   |
   | MERGE             | no   | yes        | [RFC3253], Section 11.2   |
   | MKACTIVITY        | no   | yes        | [RFC3253], Section 13.5   |
   | MKCALENDAR        | no   | yes        | [RFC4791], Section 5.3.1  |
   | MKCOL             | no   | yes        | [RFC4918], Section 9.3    |
   | MKREDIRECTREF     | no   | yes        | [RFC4437], Section 6      |
   | MKWORKSPACE       | no   | yes        | [RFC3253], Section 6.3    |
   | MOVE              | no   | yes        | [RFC4918], Section 9.9    |
   | ORDERPATCH        | no   | yes        | [RFC3648], Section 7      |
   | PATCH             | no   | no         | [RFC5789], Section 2      |
   | PROPFIND          | yes  | yes        | [RFC4918], Section 9.1    |
   | PROPPATCH         | no   | yes        | [RFC4918], Section 9.2    |
   | REBIND            | no   | yes        | [RFC5842], Section 6      |
   | REPORT            | yes  | yes        | [RFC3253], Section 3.6    |
   | SEARCH            | yes  | yes        | [RFC5323], Section 2      |
   | UNBIND            | no   | yes        | [RFC5842], Section 5      |
   | UNCHECKOUT        | no   | yes        | [RFC3253], Section 4.5    |
   | UNLINK            | no   | yes        | [RFC2068], Section        |
   |                   |      |            | 19.6.1.3                  |
   | UNLOCK            | no   | yes        | [RFC4918], Section 9.11   |
   | UPDATE            | no   | yes        | [RFC3253], Section 7.1    |
   | UPDATEREDIRECTREF | no   | yes        | [RFC4437], Section 7      |
   | VERSION-CONTROL   | no   | yes        | [RFC3253], Section 3.5    |
   +-------------------+------+------------+---------------------------+

4.  Normative References

   [RFC2068]  Fielding, R., Gettys, J., Mogul, J., Nielsen, H., and T.
              Berners-Lee, "Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1",
              RFC 2068, January 1997.

   [RFC3253]  Clemm, G., Amsden, J., Ellison, T., Kaler, C., and J.
              Whitehead, "Versioning Extensions to WebDAV (Web
              Distributed Authoring and Versioning)", RFC 3253,
              March 2002.

   [RFC3648]  Whitehead, J. and J. Reschke, Ed., "Web Distributed
              Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) Ordered Collections
              Protocol", RFC 3648, December 2003.

   [RFC3744]  Clemm, G., Reschke, J., Sedlar, E., and J. Whitehead, "Web
              Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) Access
              Control Protocol", RFC 3744, May 2004.

   [RFC4437]  Whitehead, J., Clemm, G., and J. Reschke, Ed., "Web
              Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) Redirect
              Reference Resources", RFC 4437, March 2006.

   [RFC4791]  Daboo, C., Desruisseaux, B., and L. Dusseault,
              "Calendaring Extensions to WebDAV (CalDAV)", RFC 4791,
              March 2007.

   [RFC4918]  Dusseault, L., Ed., "HTTP Extensions for Web Distributed
              Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)", RFC 4918, June 2007.

   [RFC5323]  Reschke, J., Ed., Reddy, S., Davis, J., and A. Babich,
              "Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)
              SEARCH", RFC 5323, November 2008.

   [RFC5789]  Dusseault, L. and J. Snell, "PATCH Method for HTTP",
              RFC 5789, March 2010.

   [RFC5842]  Clemm, G., Crawford, J., Reschke, J., Ed., and J.
              Whitehead, "Binding Extensions to Web Distributed
              Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)", RFC 5842, April 2010.

   [RFC7231]  Fielding, R., Ed. and J. Reschke, Ed., "Hypertext Transfer
              Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Semantics and Content", RFC 7231,
              June 2014.

Author's Address

   Julian F. Reschke
   greenbytes GmbH
   Hafenweg 16
   Muenster, NW  48155
   Germany

   EMail: julian.reschke@greenbytes.de
   URI:   http://greenbytes.de/tech/webdav/

ISO Plain Language

On this page
PROBLEMHTTP methods defined in RFCs before the IANA HTTP Method Registry was established were not yet listed in that registry.
MECHANISMRFC 7237 registers those previously defined methods and records whether each is safe and idempotent, with a reference to its definition.
REGISTRY ENTRIESThe registry provides a central record of these method names and properties. RFC 7237 says security considerations for each method belong in its defining specification.

§1The Purpose of the Registration

RFC 7237 registers HTTP methods that were defined in RFCs other than RFC 7231 before the IANA HTTP Method Registry was established. It records existing methods; the specifications it cites define what those methods do.

Many HTTP methods existed before their registry. This document records those methods and points to their specifications.

§3What the Registry Records

For each registered method, the table gives its name, whether it is safe, whether it is idempotent, and a reference. The list includes methods such as ACL, COPY, LOCK, MKCALENDAR, PATCH, PROPFIND, SEARCH, and UPDATE. The table marks PROPFIND, REPORT, and SEARCH as safe; it marks LOCK and PATCH as not idempotent.

The table lists method names and two properties: whether a method is safe and whether it is idempotent. It also points to the document that defines each method.

§2Security Considerations

RFC 7237 says that registering the methods creates no security considerations by itself. Security considerations for individual HTTP methods should be covered by the specifications that define those methods.

The registry entries do not change how methods work. Their defining documents cover their security considerations.