[DAS2] DAS status codes

[Ed Erwin]

My next set of questions/comments on
http://biodas.org/documents/das2/das2_protocol.html#overview
are about the status codes.

 >> X-DAS-Status: XXX status code


The spec should make a point of mentioning that the X-DAS-Status header 
code is NOT the same as HTTP status codes.  Even when the X-DAS-Status 
code is 501 (indicating an error), the HTTP status code should be 200 
(indicating that the DAS server actually heard and responded to the 
request).

(This is because the HTTP status codes already have specific meanings 
and the software packages that the clients use to access the web may 
notice those codes and take unwanted actions as a result.)

-

Codes 201 and 205 seem redundant, or else I don't understand the 
distinction.

-

Can we consider 200,400,500 to be a generic OK/CLIENT ERROR/SERVER ERROR 
response when the server doesn't know how to return a more specific 
2xx,4xx,5xx code?

This would mean changing the definition of "400" which is currently 
listed as

 > 400 == The request could not be understood by the server due to 
malformed syntax.

In keeping with the idea that codes ending in "00" are generic, I 
suggest 400 == "Bad request (not otherwise specified)." and we would 
need a new code for "malformed syntax".