Apache/CompressClientFixup version 0.06
=======================================

=head1 NAME

Apache::CompressClientFixup - Perl extension for Apache-1.3.X to avoid C<gzip> compression
for known buggy browsers.

=head1 INTRODUCTION

Standard gzip compression significantly scales bandwidth,
and helps to satisfy clients, who receive the compressed content faster,
especially on dialups.

Obviously, the success of proper implementation of content compression depends on quality of both sides
of the request-response transaction.
Since on server side we have 6 open source modules/packages for web content compression (in alphabetic order):

=over 4

=item ·Apache::Compress

=item ·Apache::Dynagzip

=item ·Apache::Gzip

=item ·Apache::GzipChain

=item ·mod_deflate

=item ·mod_gzip

=back

the main problem of implementation of web content compression deals with fact that some buggy web clients
declare the ability to receive
and decompress gzipped data in their HTTP requests, but fail to keep promises
when the response arrives really compressed.

All known content compression modules rely on C<Accept-Encoding: gzip> HTTP request header
in accordance with C<rfc2616>. HTTP server should never respond with compressed content
to the client which fails to declare self capability to uncompress data accordingly.

Thinking this way, we would try to unset the incoming C<Accept-Encoding> HTTP header
for those buggy clients, because they would better never set it up...

We would separate this fixup handler from the main compression module for a good reason.
Basically, we would benefit from this extraction, because in this case
we may create only one common fixup handler for all known compression modules.
It would help to

=over 4

=item ·Share specific information;

=item ·Simplify the control of every compression module;

=item ·Wider reuse the code of the requests' correction;

=item ·Simplify further upgrades.

=back

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This handler is supposed to serve the C<fixup> stage on C<mod-perl> enabled C<Apache-1.3.X>.

It unsets HTTP request header C<Accept-Encoding> for the following web clients:

=head2 Microsoft Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer sometimes loses the first 2048 bytes of data
that are sent back by Web Servers that use HTTP compression,
- Microsoft confirms for MSIE 5.5 in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - Q313712
(http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q313712).

The similiar statement about MSIE 6.0 is confirmed in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - Q312496.

In accordance with Q313712 and Q312496, these bugs affect transmissions through

=over 4

=item HTTP

=item HTTPS

=item FTP

=item Gopher

=back

and special patches for MSIE-5.5 and MSIE-6.0 were published on Internet.

Microsoft confirmed that this was a problem in the Microsoft products.

Microsoft states that this problem was first corrected in Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1.

Since then, later versions of MSIE are not supposed to carry this bug at all.

This version of the handler does not restrict compression for MSIE over HTTP.

Restriction over HTTPS for all versions of MSIE could be configured with

    PerlSetVar RestrictMSIEoverSSL On

in httpd.conf if necessary.

=over 4

=item Note:

It is not recommended any more to restrict MSIE over SSL since Vlad Jebelev reported
successfull delivery of compressed content to MSIE over SSL providing dynamic Apache
downgrade from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 in accordance with SSL recommendations.
Since then it would be considered preferable solution to downgrade the protocol for this client
instead of discarding compression.

This approach works fine with C<Apache::Dynagzip 0.09>, or later.

=back

=head2 Netscape 4.X

This is C<HTTP/1.0> client.
Netscape 4.X is failing to

=over 4

=item a) handle <script> referencing compressed JavaScript files (Content-Type: application/x-javascript)

=item b) handle <link> referencing compressed CSS files (Content-Type: text/css)

=item c) display the source code of compressed HTML files

=item d) print compressed HTML files

=back

See detailed description of these bugs at
http://www.schroepl.net/projekte/mod_gzip/browser.htm - Michael Schroepl's Web Site.

This version serves cases (a) and (b) as default for this type of browsers.
Namely, it unsets HTTP request header C<Accept-Encoding> for C<Content-Type: application/x-javascript>
and for C<Content-Type: text/css> when the request is originated from Netscape 4.X client.

This version serves cases (c) and (d) conditionally:
To activate printability for C<Netscape Navigator 4.X> you need to place

    PerlSetVar NetscapePrintable On

in your C<httpd.conf>.
In this case it turns off any compression for that buggy browser.

On Wednesday January 15, 2003 Michael Schroepl wrote to C<mod_gzip@lists.over.net>:

    ... Our customers still include 17% Netscape 4 users, sigh ...

=head2 Partial Request from Any Web Client

In accordance with C<rfc2616> server I<may> ignore C<Range> features of the request and respond
with full HTTP body indeed. Usually you should not care about compression features in this case.

Just in case this version unsets HTTP header C<Accept-Encoding> for any web client conditionally when

    PerlSetVar RestrictRangeCompression On

is present in your C<httpd.conf> and HTTP header C<Range> is present within the request.
You may experiment with this option when you know what you are doing...

=head1 INSTALLATION

The installation consists of the two steps:

 - Installation to your Perl Library
 - Configuration of your Apache Server

=head2 Installation to your Perl Library

Use the regular procedure to install this module to your Perl Library.

When you have your local copy of the package type the following:

   perl Makefile.PL
   make
   make test
   make install

Note: You should be a root to succeed with the last step...

To install the package from CPAN try to run

   perl -CPAN -e "install Apache::CompressClientFixup"

on your UNIX machine.

=head2 Configuration of your Apache Server

Use the idea of the following example to create your own configuration:

  PerlModule Apache::CompressClientFixup
  <Location /devdoc/Dynagzip>
      SetHandler perl-script
      PerlFixupHandler Apache::CompressClientFixup
      Order Allow,Deny
      Allow from All
  </Location>

You can, for example, restrict compression for MSIE over SSL
and restrict compression for C<Netscape Navigator 4.X> with

  PerlModule Apache::CompressClientFixup
  <Location /devdoc/Dynagzip>
    SetHandler perl-script
    PerlFixupHandler Apache::CompressClientFixup
    PerlSetVar RestrictMSIEoverSSL On
    PerlSetVar NetscapePrintable On
    Order Allow,Deny
    Allow from All
  </Location>

You can restrict compression for partial requests if required.
Please, do this ONLY when you know exactly what you are doing.
From my personal point of view it should not be necessary as usual.

=head1 DEPENDENCIES

This module requires these other modules and libraries:

   Apache::Constants;
   Apache::Log;
   Apache::URI;

which come bandled with C<mod_perl>. You don't need to install them additionally.

=head1 AUTHOR

Slava Bizyayev E<lt>slava@cpan.orgE<gt> - Freelance Software Developer & Consultant.

=head1 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

I<Copyright (C) 2002, 2003 Slava Bizyayev. All rights reserved.>

This package is free software.
You can use it, redistribute it, and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

The latest version of this module can be found on CPAN.

=head1 SEE ALSO

C<mod_perl> at F<http://perl.apache.org>

C<Apache::Dynagzip> at F<http://search.cpan.org/author/SLAVA/>

Web Content Compression FAQ at F<http://perl.apache.org/docs/tutorials/client/compression/compression.html>

Michael Schroepl's Web Site at F<http://www.schroepl.net/projekte/mod_gzip/browser.htm>

=cut

