Caching and status codes

On Sat, 07 Nov 2020 10:17:20 +0300
"Leo" <list at gkbrk.com> wrote:
> I don't understand why a client caching responses is rude. Or rather,
> I don't understand who it is being rude to. When I configure my HTTP
> or Gemini browser to cache every response, is my browser now being
> rude to me? Is it being rude to the server?

The rude thing here would be having to serve large files over Gemini
and expect them to be served often, the protocol operates under the
assumption that caching does not exist, it's by convention, this
simplifies the client a LOT and removes such uncertainty when writing
dynamic content for Gemini.  Consider reading 2.1.1 in
gemini://gemini.circumlunar.space/docs/faq.gmi

> How can something that causes less resource usage on the server be
> rude to the server, or something I configured or downloaded as a
> "client that has caching" be rude to me for using it?

Because the server operates under the assumption that content is not
cached, if you're serving large files over Gemini you should look
somewhere else, this is not bittorrent, and if your server is eating up
a lot of resources, you're doing Gemini wrong, Gemini servers don't
have to be complicated, that's your own problem.  Consider using
connection queue and serving connections one by instead of forking or
multithreading because the protocol allows such simple design by
closing the connection right after the transaction, it's not like in
HTTP land where you have keep-alive.

> Is not doing everything a server sends being rude to the server
> operator? If a server sends a 100000000x100000000 image, is my image
> viewer being rude for refusing to decode/display it?

No, its being sane, this does not apply here.

Does everyone here require a lecture on why their desired features
aren't in the protocol yet? seems to be the common point of discussion
here, as if the protocol is NOT ENOUGH, I don't know what brought your
interest here, did you see it as a great way of avoiding the current
scope creep of the modern web, or as a playground to satisfy your bad
ideas?

Do you have anything else to help the community with? perhaps hosting
content in the Gemini space? or helping in the development of tools
interacting with the protocol? or is your interest just satisfied when
the spec becomes ten times of its current size, then you can MAYBE
decide to use the protocol for yourself.

If any feature does not add a great value at an acceptable cost to the
simplicity of the protocol, consider it rejected before even proposing
it, I don't want to have a different experience browsing Gemini space
using netcat than using Kristall.

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