Re: CHECKIN/CHECKOUT in HTTP/WWW

Liam Relihan (relihanl@ul.ie)
Thu, 28 Jul 1994 12:34:52 +0200

On Thu, 28 Jul 1994 chris@univrs.decnet.lockheed.com wrote:

> Recently I posted in one of the www NetNews groups a RFS (Request For Status
> :-) on some stuff I had read about collaborative computing features such as
> check-in and check-out being considered for integration into the WWW
> architecture. Some responses I received indicated that these are/were under
> consideration for the next generation of HTTP, but current leaning is to NOT
> include them, and that this new HTTP spec was being discussed here.

Well, its difficult to see how the Web is expected to support
collaborative computing if it doesn't even have simple lock mechanisms.

OK, I can see the point, perhaps. If a list of locked nodes is
maintained by the server then a form of session management is taking place,
and this is contary to the stateless server notion. However, I hope we are
not going to eridicate such basic features simply to remove all
statefulness from the servers.

>From reading the early CERN memos about the World-Wide Web, I notice
that collaborative computing (including collaborative authoring) was an issue
then. Since then, the whole notion seems to have been sidelined.

Liam

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