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<H1 ALIGN="CENTER">Content Negotiation</H1>
<P>
Apache's support for content negotiation has been updated to meet the
resource based on the browser-supplied preferences for media type,
languages, character set and encoding. It is also implements a
couple of features to give more intelligent handling of requests from
browsers which send incomplete negotiation information. <P>
Content negotiation is provided by the
which is compiled in by default.
<HR>
<H2>About Content Negotiation</H2>
<P>
A resource may be available in several different representations. For
example, it might be available in different languages or different
media types, or a combination. One way of selecting the most
appropriate choice is to give the user an index page, and let them
select. However it is often possible for the server to choose
automatically. This works because browsers can send as part of each
request information about what representations they prefer. For
example, a browser could indicate that it would like to see
information in French, if possible, else English will do. Browsers
indicate their preferences by headers in the request. To request only
French representations, the browser would send
<PRE>
Accept-Language: fr
</PRE>
<P>
Note that this preference will only be applied when there is a choice
of representations and they vary by language.
<P>
As an example of a more complex request, this browser has been
configured to accept French and English, but prefer French, and to
accept various media types, preferring HTML over plain text or other
text types, and preferring GIF or JPEG over other media types, but also
allowing any other media type as a last resort:
<PRE>
Accept-Language: fr; q=1.0, en; q=0.5
</PRE>
Apache 1.2 supports 'server driven' content negotiation, as defined in
Accept-Language, Accept-Charset and Accept-Encoding request headers.
Apache 1.3.4 also supports 'transparent' content negotiation, which is
an experimental negotiation protocol defined in RFC 2295 and RFC 2296.
It does not offer support for 'feature negotiation' as defined in
these RFCs.
<P>
A <STRONG>resource</STRONG> is a conceptual entity identified by a URI
(RFC 2396). An HTTP server like Apache provides access to
<STRONG>representations</STRONG> of the resource(s) within its namespace,
with each representation in the form of a sequence of bytes with a
defined media type, character set, encoding, etc. Each resource may be
associated with zero, one, or more than one representation
at any given time. If multiple representations are available,
the resource is referred to as <STRONG>negotiable</STRONG> and each of its
representations is termed a <STRONG>variant</STRONG>. The ways in which the
variants for a negotiable resource vary are called the
<STRONG>dimensions</STRONG> of negotiation.
<H2>Negotiation in Apache</H2>
<P>
In order to negotiate a resource, the server needs to be given
information about each of the variants. This is done in one of two
ways:
<UL>
names the files containing the variants explicitly, or
<LI> Using a 'MultiViews' search, where the server does an implicit
filename pattern match and chooses from among the results.
</UL>
<H3>Using a type-map file</H3>
<P>
A type map is a document which is associated with the handler
named <CODE>type-map</CODE> (or, for backwards-compatibility with
older Apache configurations, the mime type
you must have a handler set in the configuration that defines a
file suffix as <CODE>type-map</CODE>; this is best done with a
<PRE>
AddHandler type-map .var
</PRE>
in the server configuration file. See the comments in the sample config
file for more details. <P>
Type map files have an entry for each available variant; these entries
consist of contiguous HTTP-format header lines. Entries for
different variants are separated by blank lines. Blank lines are
illegal within an entry. It is conventional to begin a map file with
an entry for the combined entity as a whole (although this
is not required, and if present will be ignored). An example
map file is:
<PRE>
URI: foo
URI: foo.en.html
Content-language: en
URI: foo.fr.de.html
Content-language: fr, de
</PRE>
If the variants have different source qualities, that may be indicated
by the "qs" parameter to the media type, as in this picture (available
as jpeg, gif, or ASCII-art):
<PRE>
URI: foo
URI: foo.jpeg
URI: foo.gif
URI: foo.txt
</PRE>
<P>
qs values can vary in the range 0.000 to 1.000. Note that any variant with
a qs value of 0.000 will never be chosen. Variants with no 'qs'
parameter value are given a qs factor of 1.0. The qs parameter indicates
the relative 'quality' of this variant compared to the other available
variants, independent of the client's capabilities. For example, a jpeg
file is usually of higher source quality than an ascii file if it is
attempting to represent a photograph. However, if the resource being
represented is an original ascii art, then an ascii representation would
have a higher source quality than a jpeg representation. A qs value
is therefore specific to a given variant depending on the nature of
the resource it represents.
<P>
The full list of headers recognized is:
<DL>
<DT> <CODE>URI:</CODE>
<DD> uri of the file containing the variant (of the given media
type, encoded with the given content encoding). These are
interpreted as URLs relative to the map file; they must be on
the same server (!), and they must refer to files to which the
client would be granted access if they were to be requested
directly.
<DT> <CODE>Content-Type:</CODE>
<DD> media type --- charset, level and "qs" parameters may be given. These
are often referred to as MIME types; typical media types are
<DT> <CODE>Content-Language:</CODE>
<DD> The languages of the variant, specified as an Internet standard
<CODE>kr</CODE> for Korean, <EM>etc.</EM>).
<DT> <CODE>Content-Encoding:</CODE>
<DD> If the file is compressed, or otherwise encoded, rather than
containing the actual raw data, this says how that was done.
Apache only recognizes encodings that are defined by an
This normally includes the encodings <CODE>x-compress</CODE>
for compress'd files, and <CODE>x-gzip</CODE> for gzip'd files.
The <CODE>x-</CODE> prefix is ignored for encoding comparisons.
<DT> <CODE>Content-Length:</CODE>
<DD> The size of the file. Specifying content
lengths in the type-map allows the server to compare file sizes
without checking the actual files.
<DT> <CODE>Description:</CODE>
<DD> A human-readable textual description of the variant. If Apache cannot
find any appropriate variant to return, it will return an error
response which lists all available variants instead. Such a variant
list will include the human-readable variant descriptions.
</DL>
<H3>Multiviews</H3>
<P>
<CODE>MultiViews</CODE> is a per-directory option, meaning it can be set with
an <CODE>Options</CODE> directive within a <CODE><Directory></CODE>,
<CODE><Location></CODE> or <CODE><Files></CODE>
is properly set) in <CODE>.htaccess</CODE> files. Note that
<CODE>Options All</CODE> does not set <CODE>MultiViews</CODE>; you
have to ask for it by name.
<P>
The effect of <CODE>MultiViews</CODE> is as follows: if the server
directory looking for files named foo.*, and effectively fakes up a
type map which names all those files, assigning them the same media
types and content-encodings it would have if the client had asked for
one of them by name. It then chooses the best match to the client's
requirements.
<P>
<CODE>MultiViews</CODE> may also apply to searches for the file named by the
<CODE>DirectoryIndex</CODE> directive, if the server is trying to
index a directory. If the configuration files specify
<PRE>
DirectoryIndex index
</PRE>
<P>
If one of the files found when reading the directive is a CGI script,
it's not obvious what should happen. The code gives that case
special treatment --- if the request was a POST, or a GET with
QUERY_ARGS or PATH_INFO, the script is given an extremely high quality
rating, and generally invoked; otherwise it is given an extremely low
quality rating, which generally causes one of the other views (if any)
to be retrieved.
<H2>The Negotiation Methods</H2>
After Apache has obtained a list of the variants for a given resource,
either from a type-map file or from the filenames in the directory, it
invokes one of two methods to decide on the 'best' variant to
return, if any. It is not necessary to know any of the details of how
negotiation actually takes place in order to use Apache's content
negotiation features. However the rest of this document explains the
methods used for those interested.
<P>
There are two negotiation methods:
<OL>
<LI><STRONG>Server driven negotiation with the Apache
algorithm</STRONG> is used in the normal case. The Apache algorithm is
explained in more detail below. When this algorithm is used, Apache
can sometimes 'fiddle' the quality factor of a particular dimension to
achieve a better result. The ways Apache can fiddle quality factors is
explained in more detail below.
<LI><STRONG>Transparent content negotiation</STRONG> is used when the
browser specifically requests this through the mechanism defined in RFC
2295. This negotiation method gives the browser full control over
deciding on the 'best' variant, the result is therefore dependent on
the specific algorithms used by the browser. As part of the
transparent negotiation process, the browser can ask Apache to run the
'remote variant selection algorithm' defined in RFC 2296. </UL>
<H3>Dimensions of Negotiation</H3>
<TABLE>
<TR valign="top">
<TH>Dimension
<TH>Notes
<TR valign="top">
<TD>Media Type
<TD>Browser indicates preferences with the Accept header field. Each item
can have an associated quality factor. Variant description can also
have a quality factor (the "qs" parameter).
<TR valign="top">
<TD>Language
<TD>Browser indicates preferences with the Accept-Language header field.
Each item can have a quality factor. Variants can be associated with none, one
or more than one language.
<TR valign="top">
<TD>Encoding
<TD>Browser indicates preference with the Accept-Encoding header field.
Each item can have a quality factor.
<TR valign="top">
<TD>Charset
<TD>Browser indicates preference with the Accept-Charset header field.
Each item can have a quality factor.
Variants can indicate a charset as a parameter of the media type.
</TABLE>
<H3>Apache Negotiation Algorithm</H3>
<P>
Apache can use the following algorithm to select the 'best' variant
(if any) to return to the browser. This algorithm is not
further configurable. It operates as follows:
<OL>
<LI>First, for each dimension of the negotiation, check the appropriate
<EM>Accept*</EM> header field and assign a quality to each
variant. If the <EM>Accept*</EM> header for any dimension implies that this
variant is not acceptable, eliminate it. If no variants remain, go
to step 4.
<LI>Select the 'best' variant by a process of elimination. Each of the
following tests is applied in order. Any variants not selected at each
test are eliminated. After each test, if only one variant remains,
select it as the best match and proceed to step 3. If more than one
variant remains, move on to the next test.
<OL>
<LI>Multiply the quality factor from the Accept header with the
quality-of-source factor for this variant's media type, and select
the variants with the highest value.
<LI>Select the variants with the highest language quality factor.
<LI>Select the variants with the best language match, using either the
order of languages in the Accept-Language header (if present), or else
else the order of languages in the <CODE>LanguagePriority</CODE>
directive (if present).
<LI>Select the variants with the highest 'level' media parameter
<LI>Select variants with the best charset media parameters,
as given on the Accept-Charset header line. Charset ISO-8859-1
is acceptable unless explicitly excluded. Variants with a
<CODE>text/*</CODE> media type but not explicitly associated
with a particular charset are assumed to be in ISO-8859-1.
<LI>Select those variants which have associated
charset media parameters that are <EM>not</EM> ISO-8859-1.
If there are no such variants, select all variants instead.
<LI>Select the variants with the best encoding. If there are
variants with an encoding that is acceptable to the user-agent,
select only these variants. Otherwise if there is a mix of encoded
and non-encoded variants, select only the unencoded variants.
If either all variants are encoded or all variants are not encoded,
select all variants.
<LI>Select the variants with the smallest content length.
<LI>Select the first variant of those remaining. This will be either the
first listed in the type-map file, or when variants are read from
the directory, the one whose file name comes first when sorted using
ASCII code order.
</OL>
<LI>The algorithm has now selected one 'best' variant, so return
it as the response. The HTTP response header Vary is set to indicate the
dimensions of negotiation (browsers and caches can use this
information when caching the resource). End.
<LI>To get here means no variant was selected (because none are acceptable
to the browser). Return a 406 status (meaning "No acceptable representation")
with a response body consisting of an HTML document listing the
available variants. Also set the HTTP Vary header to indicate the
dimensions of variance.
</OL>
<H2><A NAME="better">Fiddling with Quality Values</A></H2>
<P>
Apache sometimes changes the quality values from what would be
expected by a strict interpretation of the Apache negotiation
algorithm above. This is to get a better result from the algorithm for
browsers which do not send full or accurate information. Some of the
most popular browsers send Accept header information which would
otherwise result in the selection of the wrong variant in many
cases. If a browser sends full and correct information these fiddles
will not be applied.
<P>
<H3>Media Types and Wildcards</H3>
<P>
The Accept: request header indicates preferences for media types. It
can also include 'wildcard' media types, such as "image/*" or "*/*"
where the * matches any string. So a request including:
<PRE>
Accept: image/*, */*
</PRE>
would indicate that any type starting "image/" is acceptable,
as is any other type (so the first "image/*" is redundant). Some
browsers routinely send wildcards in addition to explicit types they
can handle. For example:
<PRE>
</PRE>
The intention of this is to indicate that the explicitly
listed types are preferred, but if a different representation is
available, that is ok too. However under the basic algorithm, as given
above, the */* wildcard has exactly equal preference to all the other
types, so they are not being preferred. The browser should really have
sent a request with a lower quality (preference) value for *.*, such
as:
<PRE>
</PRE>
The explicit types have no quality factor, so they default to a
preference of 1.0 (the highest). The wildcard */* is given
a low preference of 0.01, so other types will only be returned if
no variant matches an explicitly listed type.
<P>
If the Accept: header contains <EM>no</EM> q factors at all, Apache sets
the q value of "*/*", if present, to 0.01 to emulate the desired
behavior. It also sets the q value of wildcards of the format
"type/*" to 0.02 (so these are preferred over matches against
"*/*". If any media type on the Accept: header contains a q factor,
these special values are <EM>not</EM> applied, so requests from browsers
which send the correct information to start with work as expected.
<H3>Variants with no Language</H3>
<P>
If some of the variants for a particular resource have a language
attribute, and some do not, those variants with no language
are given a very low language quality factor of 0.001.<P>
The reason for setting this language quality factor for
variant with no language to a very low value is to allow
for a default variant which can be supplied if none of the
other variants match the browser's language preferences.
For example, consider the situation with three variants:
<UL>
<LI>foo.en.html, language en
<LI>foo.fr.html, language en
<LI>foo.html, no language
</UL>
<P>
The meaning of a variant with no language is that it is
always acceptable to the browser. If the request Accept-Language
header includes either en or fr (or both) one of foo.en.html
or foo.fr.html will be returned. If the browser does not list
either en or fr as acceptable, foo.html will be returned instead.
<H2>Extensions to Transparent Content Negotiation</H2>
Apache extends the transparent content negotiation protocol (RFC 2295)
as follows. A new <CODE> {encoding ..}</CODE> element is used in
variant lists to label variants which are available with a specific
content-encoding only. The implementation of the
variants in the list, and to use them as candidate variants whenever
their encodings are acceptable according to the Accept-Encoding
quality factors to 5 decimal places before choosing the best variant.
<H2>Note on hyperlinks and naming conventions</H2>
<P>
If you are using language negotiation you can choose between
different naming conventions, because files can have more than one
extension, and the order of the extensions is normally irrelevant
<P>
language variants of this file.
<P>
Examples:
<UL>
<LI>foo.en.html
<LI>foo.html.en
<LI>foo.en.html.gz
</UL>
<P>
Here some more examples of filenames together with valid and invalid
hyperlinks:
</P>
<TABLE BORDER=1 CELLPADDING=8 CELLSPACING=0>
<TR>
<TH>Filename</TH>
<TH>Valid hyperlink</TH>
<TH>Invalid hyperlink</TH>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>foo<BR>
foo.html</TD>
<TD>-</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>foo</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>foo<BR>
foo.html</TD>
foo.html.gz</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>foo</TD>
foo.html.gz<BR>
foo.gz</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>foo<BR>
foo.gz<BR>
foo.gz.html</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>foo<BR>
foo.html<BR>
foo.html.gz</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
<P>
Looking at the table above you will notice that it is always possible to
The advantage is that you can hide the actual type of a
to <SAMP>shtml</SAMP> or <SAMP>cgi</SAMP> without changing any
hyperlink references.
<P>
if there is one) must be on the right hand side of the MIME-type extension
<H2>Note on Caching</H2>
<P>
When a cache stores a representation, it associates it with the request URL.
The next time that URL is requested, the cache can use the stored
representation. But, if the resource is negotiable at the server,
this might result in only the first requested variant being cached and
subsequent cache hits might return the wrong response. To prevent this,
Apache normally marks all responses that are returned after content negotiation
protocol features to allow caching of negotiated responses. <P>
browser or a cache), the directive <TT>CacheNegotiatedDocs</TT> can be
used to allow caching of responses which were subject to negotiation.
This directive can be given in the server config or virtual host, and
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