[MOBY-dev] Data comrpession specs

[Paul Gordon]

There are generally two cases to consider:

1. Compression or responses should be handled at the Application layer 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model#Layer_7:_Application_Layer) when 
the server knows it can safely return a compressed response (e.g. if 
Axis or Firefox, etc. sends an HTTP "Accept-encoding: x-gzip" header 
with the request).  This is transparent to the MOBY protocol itself, and 
requires no changes to the MOBY spec.

2. The situation of *sending* compressed data (which is your problem 
now) is more complicated, as far as I know.  Because the client is 
initiating the transaction, it has no a priori knowledge of whether the 
server will understand a compressed HTTP or SOAP or MOBY XML payload.   
The only way to guarantee you can safely send a compressed file is to 
have a standing contract with the service provider.  This would require 
a change to the MOBY service registration, for example, with a new flag 
saying "I accept zlib and gzip compressed MOBY XML!".  You would only be 
allowed to send compressed data to services whose definition includes 
that flag.
>> the only thing i found was about Moses that is "Supporting automatic 
>> data compression". Is this functionality already implemented ?
>>
>>     
>    No, not yet. There was no pressure to do it :-) (But this is what I
> meant by "being on our TODO list".)
>
>    Martin
>
>